Memory's Keeper
by vanagonne
Summary: Elena is flooded with Katherine's memories after she deals with turning her humanity back on. Elena is faced with her part in Elijah's and Klaus's plans for the cure. She's forced to keep a dangerous secret involving her Petrova bloodline while juggling her feelings of the memories involving the Salvatores. Delena-centric. A/N inside
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is set directly after episode 4x05 and Elena's first kill. It goes in a very different direction than the show from there. I took the idea of the cure, the sire bond and the Delena relationship and formed an idea. As much as I half hated doing it…I'm ignoring all Delena events in episode 4x07 and beyond. Forgive me, but I don't like the idea of their first time being under the sire bond….as hot as it was.

Thank you for the open minded readers that will take this journey with me. I write because I am obsessed with these characters and have grown to love them. I get these ideas in my head that I can't shake so I write them down. I figure there are at least a handful of people out there that could enjoy so that's why I share on here. I list as Elena and Damon because as with any fiction I write in this fandom…it's a major source of inspiration and passion for me. That doesn't mean there aren't other relationships or aspects of relationships included so read with caution and continue on at your own risk. Elena is a huge ingredient in many dynamics in this fandom and I choose not to ignore that.

xxxx

After the blood was washed clean from her hands and her teeth scrubbed of their crimson stain; Elena did the only thing she knew to do. She huddled into her bed, hair still wet and cold atop her head in a messy bun.

She pulled her laptop onto the bed and pressed play on a slide show that was always paused and ready as needed. A picture of herself and Jeremy when they were kids faded in where she stood with her hair in braids and missing a tooth, Jeremy hugging her tightly around the waist. The next photo faded slowly over the last, her mother kissing Elena's three year old forehead.

Elena grabbed the wine bottle that was wedged between the mattress and headboard, popping the cork and taking a long gulp. The liquid dribbled a little down her chin but she didn't bother wiping it away as the next photo slid into view. It was of Elena blowing out her candles on her ninth birthday, Bonnie next to her with a huge grin.

More wine and a shuffled playlist later, and Elena was almost numb to the pain of her first kill. Guilt was a disgusting feeling, eats at you from the inside out like maggots to a corpse. She'd do anything she could to avoid feeling it to the extent she had today. Anything.

Her eyes were fuzzy with the buzz of wine in the dim room, lit only by candles that lined atop every surface. She wanted to drift into the pictures, transport herself back to when evil was only in stories and love was promising.

Now there was no love or kindness without evil in it, around it, through it. Monsters lurked further than inside closets and under beds; they looked back at her in mirrors.

Xxxxx

The smell of cinnamon burned his nostrils before he even reached her front porch. As silent as the still trees that shadowed the edges of her yard, he made his way into the foyer. It was dark except for the light that peeked down the staircase from her cracked bedroom door. He took a deep breath, opening his senses. He smelled her even through the thick sharp scent of cinnamon candles that she tended to burn while scribbling furiously in her diary.

He had just fed, some girl with strawberry hair. She tasted bitter, her blood thinned with alcohol, but it was enough to charge his sense of sight, sound, taste…and more importantly, smell.

His eyes fluttered shut, inhaling slowly. Something like rain burned his nostrils and his head tilted downward in disappointment before his eyes blinked open. She was sorrowful, a scent he had learned quickly from her.

He was at her door, only the shift in the air giving him away.

"Damon?" Elena called out, voice hoarse but strong. He toed the door open with a long creak, never lifting his gaze from the floor beneath him.

Something caught in his throat before his nose picked up on the smell. His eyes drifted upwards and found the source of the familiar aroma.

"Doing a little drinking?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow towards the bottle of wine resting against her side. Her only answer was a shrug and a pop of the cork. He noted an empty bottle was laying on her nightstand.

He watched her take a small sip and pull the bottle away from her lips to examine the label momentarily with a scrunched nose before returning for a healthy gulp. He crept onto the bed beside her, crossing his ankles and propping his hands behind his head against her headboard. "What are we watching?"

She shrugged again, "let's just have a drink Damon." As if her nonchalant act fooled him for a second... He, however, played along and grabbed the bottle from her hand and let the tart liquid top off his already full belly. When he finished he knew she was gazing at him with expectant eyes without even turning his gaze onto her.

"That you?" he asked, nodding towards the computer screen.

"Used to be," she muttered, kicking the covers away to reveal a faded t shirt and flannel shorts.

He turned to look at her then, studying her profile; the way her eyebrows furrowed slightly into the bridge of her nose and eyes turned glassy with tears she wouldn't dare let spill. His hand found hers before he knew it, her head tucking under his chin.

He pursed his lips, taking in a slow breath, acidic rain invading his senses. Not too much longer and the blood would slow in his veins and he'd lose her scent. The hunger would return, his skin turning cooler, human feelings dulled and replaced with a sharp gnawing need. He wanted to smell her, not the sorrow, just her.

"You need to feed," he said into her hair.

A picture of her thirteen year old self in a cheer uniform filled the computer screen and she squinted at it, grimacing at the wide happy smile. She dragged the wine bottle up his chest to tilt the liquid into her mouth, dribbling deep purple onto his white shirt. "Lightweight," he murmured, plucking the bottle from her hand and taking another gulp.

She cleared her throat and settled against him, "I'm not hungry."

Her scent remained the same even as he draped his arm around her and pulled her in. Her head settled onto his chest and knee crept up to rest lightly atop his thigh. He breathed her in again, catching a faint tinge of something sweet. He hadn't smelled it before and it piqued his curiosity.

He nudged the bottle back into her hand and as she took another sip he further pushed the issue, "You're too pale, you'll feel better after you feed."

She snorted then, pushing off of his chest to sit up and face him, "I'm not talking about this with you."

He rolled his eyes, patting her bare thigh and letting his hand rest briefly there before taking the bottle back from her for another swig. "Does it ever cross your mind that I know what I'm talking about?"

Something dark flashed across Elena's face and she turned her attention back to the pictures fading in and out on the screen. She crossed her arms tightly across her chest, lips pressed tightly together. Damon sighed, his heart clenching at the memory of her sobbing accusingly over Connor's dead body.

"Elena…" he murmured, "I won't apologize for what I told you to do."

The look she hurled at him caused him to flinch inwardly but he kept his eyes steadily on hers.

"Leave," she hissed through clenched teeth.

"He was trying to kill Jeremy, you…Stefan…", he leaned in closer to her seething body, "you killed someone…and you did it to protect the people that you love. You're a vampire and you're going to kill."

She shook her head, tears welling and lips quivering, "This isn't who I am."

"I'm far too old to play pretend," Damon cupped her face in his hands, bringing his eyes closer to hers, "You would do anything to protect the ones you love, is that not you?"

"I don't know who I am anymore…"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Instead of the killing of Conner triggering a dizzying storyline of him haunting Elena and forcing her into suicidal tendencies…I had the thought of something quite different and that's what spawned the driving force of the rest of this fic.

_xxxx_

_Sire Bond_. It passed through Elena's mind like a dirty word, causing her to cringe.

She had been sitting on the couch with Damon, the fire crackling just beyond his face in a blurry dance. She spoke as the flames licked and popped, intertwining and pulsing, "I wanted to dance with you today."

Her eyes flitted up to meet his and his face immediately grew thoughtful, eyes dropping to her lips and mouth curving into a brief smile.

It was Caroline that sped in front of them first. Her face was flushed and eyes wide as she sputtered up her theory on the sire bond. Stefan kept his eyes on Damon's even as Elena willed him to look at her.

Even after Elena pled and practically screamed that it wasn't true, Damon asked her softly to leave.

xxxx

Jeremy was dead. After pain in her chest and blinding tears in her eyes, she pled with the people who loomed over her shaking body. She pled for help.

Damon's fingers brushed gently in her hair and he commanded her, _siring_ her to turn it all off.

Her house burned to the ground.

Xxx

The only time she felt anything anymore was in her dreams. It was always the same dream with different visitors. Jeremy would be back, magically conjured by Bonnie and her never ending supply of miracle spells.

She'd run into his arms, feeling everything again. Feeling safe again.

Upon waking she'd twist the switch even harder. Emotions weren't a magic spell or the answer to life. They weren't needed in this life anymore.

Xxxx

When Elijah appeared in Mystic Falls with his own agenda, she detected the hurt in his eyes at seeing her as an emotionless vampire.

She suspected she'd find an eloquently polite note on her bed later explaining how his heart yearned for her to find her way back to her compassion. His emotions were always better conveyed through pen and paper or behind his earnest dark honey eyes. Being a writer herself at one point in her life, she understood the appeal of a letter rather than a soft confession over a feel-good hug.

He surprised her though and asked her to accompany him and the Salvatores out for a drink. She accepted, understanding to the fullest it was yet another attempt by the older than old men in her life trying to rescue the little girl they'd all grown so fond of.

Elena had gotten ready in Damon's bathroom, not even bothering with the door. She'd need help with her zipper. Damon hadn't even complained when she turned up some music a touch too loud so she wouldn't have to hear his heavy sighs.

She stood with nothing but her panties, bra and bare feet, applying a touch of color to her lips. When she had finished and shook her hair out of the curlers, she walked in time with the music to the edge of his bed.

He was staring up at the ceiling with his hands tucked under his head and ankles crossed.

"Zip me up?" She asked as she had stepped into the dress that had been spread out at the bottom of his bed.

Wordlessly he sat up to reach for her and she obliged, walking to the side of the bed so he could access her back.

"I still can't remember where my shoes ended up…" she murmured.

"Couch cushions," came Stefan's voice from the doorway. He strolled in with her black pumps dangling off his fingers.

Wordlessly she stepped into them after he had placed them at her feet and moved back to lean against the wall with his arms crossed and eyes far away. She didn't bother surveying herself in the mirror once her ensemble was complete. She knew she looked like her, she had done it on purpose.

It wasn't that she was rebelling, she just logically felt like she should portray what they all thought she was now. Stefan had already accused her once of using seduction to manipulate just like her. He was wrong, but she knew how to work like Katherine and if need be she knew she could do it. She had better ways of getting what she wanted and needed though.

She felt more honest which was a trait Katherine lost long ago. Probably as soon as she learned to talk. Words were easier to use than her body to get her way, that was just the way Elena worked. Without emotions filtering and blanketing, the words slid much easier off the tongue.

Elijah had shown up in a luxury SUV. The color as onyx as her dress and interior just as glossy as her legs, Elena breathed in the expensive leather as she settled against it. There was a driver in the front, hands on the wheel and eyes faced forward.

Elijah took a seat next to Elena as the brothers slid in behind them, leather groaning under their weight. Music played softly on the radio, surely more for the driver's sake than the passenger's.

As they crept down the driveway and turned slowly onto the road Elena's ears tuned into the music at a familiar rift.

"Can you please turn the station," Elena called to the driver, her heart starting to pick up its pace.

Elijah said something in a different language to the man at the wheel who nodded politely and pressed a button, switching to something that wasn't Jeremy's favorite band.

She got fidgety as she sank deeper into her seat, wishing her heart wasn't so damned loud. Elijah placed three fingers light as a feather to her knee to still her tapping leg. She glanced up at him but he was looking the other way towards the streaming line of trees that rushed by.

Once she was still and her heart slowed to its' normal slowed vampiric thump, Elijah removed his touch and settled his hand on the seat behind her head.

It wasn't until Wickery Bridge that she let it slip again. She hadn't thought to ask the brothers how to stop the triggers from affecting her emotions yet.

When she looked up from her lap and noticed where they were, she immediately reacted and snapped her seatbelt into place, moving closer to Elijah and away from the glass. It was a stupid mistake, a knee jerk human reaction that must have still been imbedded inside of her. She didn't need protection from the bridge anymore. She was already dead.

Elijah's hand twitched a little, she felt it against her hair, as if his own knee jerk reaction was to comfort her, but instead he called again to the driver in that language that rolled so beautifully off of his tongue. It must have translated to 'drive faster' because the driver sped over the bridge.

Normally this would have been a good thing, made sense; drive faster, get over it faster. But instead it just brought her right back to when Stefan had ripped his way down the bridge, steel toed boot grinding down on the accelerator the louder her pleas had become.

Her words tumbled out of her mouth because it was what she wanted to say at that moment as they slowed at the end of the bridge. She unsnapped her seatbelt and turned slowly to face Stefan whose jaw was so clenched that a vein was pulsing in his temple.

"I never got to tell you how much I hated you for that night. How close I was to giving up on you. How much I threw up all over my bedroom floor because my legs wouldn't stop shaking even hours later, the toilet was just too far. I wanted you to know how much it hurt but I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to lose you. As I watched my little brother clean up my vomit I held onto the thought that if I hated you as much as I hated Damon in that moment that he snapped Jeremy's neck…I could love you again too," Elena went on, ignoring that a tear trickled down his cheek.

Now that the words were flowing and the switch was so tightened up that tears and pleading eyes and Elijah's fingers trying to calm her through little circles against her bare shoulder didn't soften them, she turned completely around in her seat. She propped up on her knees and rested her chin on the seat to turn her eyes to the elder brother who met her gaze coolly.

She recognized the look though it didn't reach her heart. He was asking her to stop in that expression that would look vacant to anyone who didn't know him, his lips still and body tense.

"Emotions allowed me to forgive you for killing my brother. Pity for your broken heart drove me to try to mend it back together again. And the woman that broke it to begin with ends up finishing the job. If I were the monster either of you were without your emotions, I'd rip your little brother's heart out and shove it down your throat," Elena explained, narrowing her eyes that were painted just like Katherine's.

Damon leaned forward then, face inches from hers so that all she could see was the icy blue of his eyes trained on hers. He spoke in an even tone so there would be no confusing his seriousness for nonchalance when he replied, "Sweetheart, make no mistake. Where we rip out hearts and break necks, your words are your most monstrous asset. Now. Turn. Around."

The switch loosened, his harshness triggering something deep in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was the monster that lived in them all but in her rebuttal she turned to face Elijah who's eyes still looked so calculating.

"You see how they to fix me?" Elena asked him softly, leaning towards him, "they can't stand my honesty because I have no use for softer words or white lies to blanket what's going on around me anymore."

"I see a child who never grew into her emotions in the first place. You must be very confused right now, but no mind. You'll fix yourself Miss Gilbert," he opted for politeness and honesty in his tone.

"Quite the opposite. I've never felt surer of every thought," Elena admitted.

"Someone, quite some time ago, said to me once that if we cease to believe in love, why would we want to live. Do you find truth in this?"

She tilted her head a little, examining his eyes and then trailed her gaze down the bridge of his nose to the curve of his lips. Finally in a voice barely above a whisper she replied, "I used to, more than anything in the world, believe in those words."

"And now?" he prodded just as softly.

"It's hard for you to look at me isn't it? It's hard for them too. I look like her and now I'm too honest…which roughly translates into too monstrous apparently," her eyes flicked towards Damon.

"You are the third person to walk with this face on this Earth and I find it harder each time," Elijah admitted, bringing her attention back to him.

"I hope you take comfort in knowing I'll be the last," Elena blinked slowly, eyebrows raising.

"Careful, your humanity is bleeding though," Elijah murmured.

Elena leaned forward then and pressed her lips to his. His mouth parted in surprise, causing her lips to mold gently between the swell of his lips. Her tongue moved to hook under his top lip and it trailed very slowly beneath it as he pulled away almost sluggishly.

Their lips separated with the moist crinkle of saliva and the softest sigh of her breath against his face.

"That was very unkind Elena," Elijah admonished.

"It wasn't meant to be," she countered, touching her lips with her fingers.

Xxxx

It was Elijah who turned Elena's emotions back on. It was pertinent that she was able to fulfill her part in his plan.

He took her by surprise after she excused herself to the restroom of the club. He slid into her unlocked stall just as she was hiking her skirt up around her hips.

Her mouth formed an 'O' of surprise as he pressed her against the stall wall and cupped her chin.

"Elena. Forgive me but I require your assistance. You will forget this ever happened-but now…I need you to turn on your humanity. Turn it on."


	3. Chapter 3

xxxx

Rain pelted incessantly against the windshield of a car she'd compelled off some rich bitch lady at the airport. Katherine had limited time before Elena's vampire mind would open to the memories, but she had to reach her to warn her; threaten her.

Anything to keep her secrets safe.

Xxxx

Elena had spent the entire day sleeping in front of the fire. Stefan had dropped a blanket and an unexpected kiss upon her sometime around noon. She heard the creaking of floor boards as Damon paced about, slamming back drink after drink.

She was on day two of her humanity switched back on and she had managed the worst of it the few hours after Elijah had dropped them back home. Mainly, she just cried and whispered apologies between gasps for air.

Slipping in and out of sleep was both welcomed and dreaded. The dreams took hold of her, an icy grip around her neck. Stefan explained it would take a while for her brain to become used to sleep after flipping the switch back on. Tampering down emotions for so long had serious repercussions to her psyche.

A loud crack from the fire woke her from a dizzying dream of crimson stained sheets and lips against her throat.

"We need to talk," a voice purred in her ear.

She sat up quickly, scurrying away from the voice, her eyes quickly focusing on her mirror image. "What do you want Katherine?" The words had come out thick with sleep and strangled with anger.

The sudden noise of her voice was enough to send the brothers into the room in an almost comical entrance of widened eyes and crouched stances.

"I need to talk to Elena in private," Katherine commanded, never taking her eyes off of the seething doppelganger.

"What do you _want_," Elena repeated through her teeth, the veins under her eyes starting to bulge.

Katherine shifted on her feet impatiently, eyes darting peevishly around. She then let out a sputter of laughter and quick as a flash sprouted out her fangs and had Elena against the wall, her hand secured around her throat. Elena squirmed under her grasp, nails digging down Katherine's arms.

Katherine paid no mind to the blood collecting down her sleeves from Elena's clawing, "Like I said, we need to talk."

Xxxx

"Look," Katherine shifted her weight, crossing her arms stiffly, "I'll just get right to it. Elena is going to be experiencing some…visions."

"Visions," Damon quirked his head, crossing his arms in the same fashion.

Katherine sighed, looking upwards as if to gather herself. Her tightly wound curls bounced around her face when she returned her gaze to Elena. Her face was softer, eyes no longer penetrating Elena's in an icy glare. Her body language turned from brash to…exhausted. Katherine walked to the couch and sat with her elbows to her knees, head hung as she spoke.

"Elena, you're going to see my memories," she looked up at the brothers and said, "all of them."

Elena's mouth opened in question but Damon was quick to jump in, clasping his hands loudly together "Ohhhh-kay, what are we on tonight, and kindly leave some by the door on your way out."

Katherine growled impatiently and her words came out in a flurry, "Sometime after I turned I started gaining memories that weren't mine. They felt like mine, but they were hers. Tatia's."

Stefan finally spoke from the doorway, "You're sure?"

Katherine nodded, "I can assure you I have never fucked Klaus and Elijah…at the same time that is. But one night the memory hit me like it was mine. I could hear it, feel it…everything. I remember everything there is to know about Tatia."

Damon blew out a long breath and asked with suspicion still apparent in his tone, "What brought it on, was there a trigger?"

Katherine stood and made her way to the scotch, pouring herself a healthy glass and downing it in one swift gulp. She poured herself another, downing it just as quickly. Elena watched her every move. She believed her because she had never seen her like this before. Her stature looked defeated in a way; her eyes nervous.

Katherine finally answered, "It will happen on my birthday. Mine happened on Tatia's. Took a lot of research to figure that out by the way, may have killed a witch or two in the process."

"When is your birthday?" Elena asked softly.

"Tomorrow," Stefan answered for her.

Xxxx

Elena stepped out of Damon's shower, towel wrapped tightly around her body. She glanced at the steamy mirror and did a double take when she mistook her reflection for her own. Katherine stood against the wall her face void of emotion.

"What are you doing?" Elena hissed, pulling her towel even tighter around her chest.

"There's a particular memory I need you to keep secret. You'll know what it is when you see it."

Before Elena had a time to question her further, Katherine was gone and the door was left wide open.

Xxxx

It was Elena's request to have Katherine stay at the boarding house. She insisted even through Damon's refusal and Stefan's discomfort. Neither thought it was a good idea and neither believed the memories would come. They threw in a lot of _we can't trust her's_ and _she's hiding the whole truth's._ But nevertheless, Elena folded her arms and set her jaw and she knew they would relent.

When they walked back into the living room, Katherine was laying wearily across the couch, her arms splayed behind her head. And even though they shared the same body down to the tiny mole on their inner wrist, Elena couldn't help but feel a spark of jealousy at the way she moved off of the couch like a slinky cat.

"Pick a room," Stefan stated without looking at her.

Elena waited for a smartass remark from Katherine about sharing with one of the brothers but it never came. Instead, she just headed towards the stairs, a slight waver to her walk from all the scotch as she grabbed a bottle by the neck. For a moment Elena's heart ached for her. She knew she wouldn't like all of her personal memories given to anyone, let alone someone she seemingly despised.

Xxxx

Stefan sought out his brother that night when he was sure the identical women were sleeping. He even slid silently into each of their rooms, his heart thudding painfully at the realization that there was no difference between them when they slept. They even tucked their hands under their cheek the same way.

After he had grazed his lips along Elena's temple he crept down the hall towards his brother's room, nudging the door open with his toe.

It creaked open, slowly casting light into the hallway. Damon was standing at the foot of his bed, still fully clothed and swishing a glass of bourbon around in his ring clad hand.

"So what do you make of all this," Damon asked immediately, peering at him over his drink.

Stefan closed the door behind him and rubbed at his face with both hands, sighing heavily. A million things ran through his head but only one thing was taking precedence. _Elena would see every moment he and Katherine shared._

"I only hope it isn't true," Stefan admitted, settling his back onto Damon's bed, legs still dangling.

Damon snickered into his drink, "Oh it's true. When have you ever seen Katherine so spooked. She's like a jumpy little kitten." "Meow," he added, smirking after another gulp from his glass.

Stefan quirked an eyebrow and asked, "What number you on?"

Damon raised his eyebrows comically, gesturing to his raised glass, "Oh this? I'm on number not enough. Katherine within a mile of me makes me squeamish…Katherine living in my _house_…I'm gonna drain Mystic Fall's liquor supply."

"If Elena has access to all of Katherine's memories, and Katherine is insisting on seeing this all through…" Stefan started.

Damon lifted a finger in the air and finished, "Then there's something Miss Kitty doesn't want anyone else to know."

Stefan sat up slowly, mulling it over in his brain but Damon beat him to it, stating, "She's going to try to convince Elena to keep a verrrrry dirty secret."


	4. Chapter 4

Xxxx

Damon shuffled into the kitchen where he found Elena nursing a cup of coffee. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head and she still wore her blue flannel bottoms and white tank top pajamas. She looked up at him and offered a small smile as she sipped at the mug.

He eyed her for a moment, trying to decide how to approach the subject that kept him wide awake the entire night.

"There's more coffee," she nodded towards the pot on the counter.

He pulled a mug from the cabinet and a bottle of whiskey, filling it half way. With his back turned to her he scrunched his eyes and took in a deep breath, "There's something you need to know."

"What's that?" she asked, her voice still hoarse from sleep.

He took a swig of the whiskey and set it back on the counter louder than he intended. He gripped the counter top tightly keeping his back to her, "Some of the memories involving me and…me and Stefan. They are going to be…difficult."

"Difficult?" her tone turned sharper.

He let his head fall back and he stared at the ceiling. He really needed to paint it. It was getting all kinds of discolored. He jumped when he felt Elena's arms wrap around his waist. He turned around in her arms and met her eyes questioningly.

"You're going to have to tell her better than that…" she smiled coyly, standing on tip toes to nip at his nose.

He groaned loudly, "Goddammit Katherine." He breathed her in smelling Elena and then glanced at her attire.

"I never said I was her, she offered her jammies last night. They aren't my usual nighttime choice but they will do in a pinch."

Stefan stalked in suddenly, stopping only briefly to quirk an eyebrow at Katherine's arms around Damon before stating, "Elena said the memories have started."

"Better I go soften the blow?" Katherine tossed over her shoulder as she made her way towards the stairs. She didn't have to walk far, Elena pushed past her into the kitchen and wordlessly grabbed a coffee mug. She yanked the whiskey from the counter and stalked out of the room.

"Uh oh…" Katherine murmured, sending a knowing look towards Damon before following Elena.

Damon and Stefan hovered at the doorway to the living room and watched as Katherine joined Elena on the couch.

"Out with it, what memories did you get?" Katherine demanded.

"I just can't believe he would do that…" Elena whispered, her face crumpling.

Katherine rolled her eyes at the little girl's sniffling and asked again, this time through gritted teeth, "_Which_ memory?"

Elena took a sip from the bottle of amber colored liquid, grimacing a little, "Your father. He hit you when you told him you were pregnant."

Elena shuddered as she repeated the rest, "And your mother…she just stood there as you fell to the ground."

Katherine snatched the bottle and stalked to the window, visibly disturbed at her locked down memories being on display in detail.

"Why didn't you get up and run?" Elena asked, her voice so small, so naïve. Such a child.

Katherine gulped down several mouthfuls of whiskey, knuckles white around the neck of the bottle. After she wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand she muttered towards the window, "Because I loved him. Didn't you feel that?"

Elena was quiet then but Katherine found her staring at her upon turning slowly around.

"I felt guilty and shamed. I felt scared and sick," Elena admitted, pity evident in her tone.

Katherine looked away and shook her head slightly, muttering, "Exactly," before stalking out of the room, her shoulders brushing stiffly past the brothers.

Xxxx

The memories continued in snippets during naps and in what seemed like days' worth during the night. Elena enjoyed the ones from Katherine's childhood the most. They were the least eventful but it was the only time Elena could relate to the little identical child in her dreams.

Katherine continued to hound her every time Elena's eyes popped open but she was quick to wave her hand to silence Elena if it was a human memory. Elena wrote everything down in her journal though, the need to tell someone seemed imperative, even if it was only a memory of the first time Katherine rode a horse or lost a tooth.

Damon and Stefan had become withdrawn and hard to talk to. She knew it was because they had grown worried for her. She had trouble keeping her eyes open and the desire to feed was lessoning despite her obvious physical fatigue.

Damon was the one to coax her into blood bags and sometimes French toast. He never asked, just left a blood bag on her pillow or a plate by her bed. She knew it was him because she smelled his scent all over her room. He smelled of anxiety and something she couldn't put her finger on. She was still getting used to all the smells and sounds that she never picked up on as a human.

It was nice to smell the grass in Katherine's memories. It's muted and crisp under the burning sun like it should be; not intense and searing like it is to her vampire senses. It burns her eyes like onions now.

Xxxx

Elena's face was white as a sheet and pools of sweat gathered on her forehead. The sheets tangled against her damp body as she writhed and moaned. She sat up suddenly, a scream escaping her mouth followed by body wrecking sobs.

All three of them reached her doorway at the same time, bursting into the room. Stefan left Damon, who's mouth was slightly agape, at the doorway and rushed to her side. He knelt by the bed on his knees and reached to touch her face.

Before he could, she was out of the bed and wrapping her arms around Katherine, who stood frozen. Elena sobbed into her hair, whispering "I'm so sorry" over and over.

Katherine finally pushed her away and sank to the floor, her eyes glazing over. Elena sunk down with her, hugging herself tightly and rocking back and forth still choking on sobs.

"Stop crying," Katherine murmured dully.

Elena tried and failed, the tears wetting the entire sides of her face.

"_STOP CRYING_" Katherine shouted this time, her eyes ablaze.

"I'm sorry. Your baby…your family…" Elena's chest heaved between waves of utter despair.

Stefan shuffled on his knees to come closer to the two identical woman. Damon followed suit until they were all seated on the floor in a circle. The room was dim except for a large candle that flickered next to Elena's bed. She had fallen asleep reading when another batch of memories came over her. It was like a dream she couldn't wake from but the pain was real. She felt everything and it didn't go away upon waking. It was a part of her now and she just wanted to turn it off.

It was a strange moment for them all. Elena reaching for Katherine's hands; Katherine's shoulders sagging and eyes spilling over with long overdue tears; Damon placing a hand on both women's knees; Stefan rubbing small circles on both women's backs.

"You didn't even get to hold her," Elena said sadly.

"For that I'm grateful. Can you imagine having to let go of her. ..Mama was right," Katherine mumbled.

"Yes, she was," Elena agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for sticking with me this far readers. It's been great getting these scenes and thoughts out of my head and written down. From here on out i'm going to urge that you read with caution. Mature content ahead.**

Xxxx

With everything going on, Elena had barely had time to properly mourn the loss of her brother. Her memories of before his death and even how his death had occurred had become fuzzy; unattainable even.

Elena guzzled three cups of coffee laced with B positive in hopes she could keep her eyes open so she could probe inside her mind for the answers she desired without slipping into Katherine's jumble of nightmares.

She changed into short pajama shorts and a matching loose, thin spaghetti strap top. The peach color set off her olive skin, making it appear darker. She twisted her hair up into a messy bun atop her head, blowing at the tiny baby hairs that tickled at her cheekbones.

Elena made her way down the stairs, listening out for the movements of her housemates. When she was certain she was alone, she padded bare foot into the den to pry open the large windows. She winced when they creaked loudly against her intrusion. The cold wind billowed in, hitting her senses immediately. Rain was coming.

Goosbumps rose on her arms and she felt her nipples pebble against the cold air. If anything kept her awake, it was a cold breeze. As a vampire she was rarely affected by the cool air, but it still enhanced her senses and kept her alert.

She decided to drag a large arm chair in front of the window so she could let the breeze envelope her. She sank into the chair and brought her knees up and with a small sigh, stretched out slightly so that her toes gripped the windowsill.

She knew her brother was dead. She remembered the smell of his body and the switch being turned off. She remembered the flames crackling behind her as she left him to burn. She couldn't quite reach how he had died. It made her head hurt as she scrunched her nose and rubbed at her temples.

The hunt for the cure was sharp in her mind and how she didn't want it. She still didn't want it but hadn't addressed that with the brothers yet. There were a lot of things she hadn't addressed with them yet…

She gave up on her thoughts of her brother, knowing it was probably best she didn't remember right now anyway. She was just now getting a handle on having her humanity back and the guilt that came with her words and actions.

xxxx

Elena knew the memories of the brothers were bound to come up. She had prepared herself for them as best she could, knowing there'd be things that would be hard to swallow. The memories seemed to only come to her in her dreams. It would be as if she woke up but she was living a different life for a moment.

She had fallen asleep in Damon's car as he drove her to a little clothing store in town that she had always shopped at with her mother. She was running low on everything since she was sharing her wardrobe with Katherine.

The old car smell, thick with worn leather and fumes, was oddly comforting. Her eyes had grown heavy right as he pulled out of the driveway and she leaned on the glass of her door and succumbed to sleep.

Her mind was immediately transported to a time she didn't exist. She was laying naked, belly down on a mattress. It was firm and smelled of sweat. It was a human smell that sweetened the nostrils. _Damon. That's what Damon smelled like as a human._ She felt fingertips tickle down her back and the delicious shiver it caused up her spine. Then he was nudging her legs apart with his knees and entering her from behind. _This is what Damon feels like inside of her_. Damon whispered how much he loved her as she came hard against him and she smiled into the sheets because she knew she'd never say it back.

Elena's eyes shot open as she gasped for air. Her hair stuck to the dampness around her face and she grabbed for the door handle to get some air. It was locked.

She looked slowly at Damon, eyes pausing at his fingers that gripped the steering wheel. He was staring at her in a way that made it hard to breathe. She bit her lip and looked away, the car too quiet in the driveway.

"Do we need to talk about something?" Damon finally asked, his tone even and eyes trained forward.

She swallowed thickly, her eyes on her hands clasped in her lap. She could smell her arousal, she knew he could too. It was like she had slept with Damon but it never really happened. She knew what he felt like inside of her; it was a living memory inside of her now. It was something she couldn't forget, not ever.

She finally looked up at his face and met his piercing blue eyes. She was suddenly grateful the memory didn't contain his face. His touch, his smell…but she didn't have to touch him now, and his scent was that of a vampire. Slightly different, different enough to separate from her new memory.

"No. No, it's fine. Just a memory of Stefan," she lied, pulling at the lock on the door and stumbling out into the parking lot.

He followed at least two steps behind her as she shopped even though she slowed a few times for him to join by her side. Gnawing at her bottom lip she managed to pick out an assortment of outfits and undergarments. Damon had even taken to browsing through a rack of men's shirts as she approached the big bin of discount lacey panty and bra sets.

She even attempted a joke to lighten the mood and caught his eye from across the store. She held up a faux leather studded bra and mouthed, 'Katherine?'

He joked back and shook his head slightly, lips curling into a soft smile and whispered to her vampire ears, "No, you."

She rolled her eyes and smiled, dropping her gaze and tossing the bra back into the bin. When she peeked back up from under her lashes he was still smiling.

Xxxx

Katherine greedily dug through Elena's new clothes selection, grimacing at most of it.

"You're far too pretty to be wearing things like this Elena…" Katherine muttered, holding a maroon cardigan at arm's length.

Elena just shrugged and shrunk deeper into the pale blue comforter in Katherine's room. She watched her peel off her clothes and stand nude at the foot of the bed.

"Have you gotten the memory yet?" Katherine asked plainly, pulling some simple white cotton panties to her waist with a pop.

Elena peeked over a lump of blue comforter and mumbled, "I don't think so. What is it I'm to expect?"

Katherine sighed and waved her hand absently as she snapped her bra into place. She tugged on a pair of faded boot cut jeans and a soft gray sweater before flopping onto the bed next to Elena.

"It's something that can't be talked about and can't be repeated. It's something that all three of us share," Katherine said, her voice muted by her arm that she flung over her face.

Elena finally asked what had been nagging at her since Katherine's arrival, "Why can't you just tell me what the memory is now? And who are you referring to…us three?"

"Ah, you finally ask. I can't say. Think about it and ask me differently," Katherine replied, her voice sharp and probing.

Elena wrinkled her brow, not in the mood for games or riddles. All she wanted was a dreamless night of sleep and her appetite back. She sighed and rolled out of bed, flinging the old cupboard style windows open to let the night air brush the hair from her face.

"Come on Elena, _think,"_ Katherine groaned from the bed, rolling out of it to join her at the window.

"It's hard to think when I'm so tired I can't see straight," Elena admitted, voice soft and not at all harsh.

Katherine was quiet then, letting her hands fall to the windowsill. She closed her eyes as the breeze ruffled their matching hair around their faces. Elena could smell the Earth and the way it changed the smell on their skin. She could smell that under the layers of different soaps, they smelled identical.

Elena shut her eyes too and repeated in her mind, _I can't say, ask me differently._ Her eyes popped open. _Of course…_

"You can't tell me because you were compelled to keep a secret," Elena turned to face Katherine who's eyes remained shut but a smile played at her lips.

"An Original compelled you to keep a secret about _us three_ as in you, me…and Tatia?" Elena prodded, heart pounding with realization.

"Bingo," Katherine murmured into the wind.


	6. Chapter 6

The memories were exhausting Elena. She slept more and more; deeper and deeper, but she felt she never really rested. It was like living two lives with no break in between.

Elena crept into Stefan's room after her nightly report to Katherine. The old house creaked and popped against the summer wind but it was such a comfort to Elena. Right now Elena needed comfort.

She was surprised to find Stefan and Damon lying side by side on the unmade bed. Damon had an arm draped over his eyes and a bottle of something tucked in the nook of his other arm. Stefan's hands were linked beneath his head and his toes tapped to some melody in his head.

She went unnoticed for a moment and enjoyed watching them interact when she wasn't an influence to the atmosphere. They looked worried and restless, seeking each other's presence for comfort as only siblings knew how to do best. She imagined them as children lying side by side so many years ago and it brought a small smile to her lips that had been frozen in a grimace since Katherine had showed up here.

Something in the air must have changed, though she had been careful not to move a muscle, because both brothers turned their attention towards her.

"Hey," Stefan said softly, propping up on elbows.

She wasn't sure what to say, she had only been seeking a warm body to curl up next to. The anxiety of the memories and the pressure Katherine put on her every waking moment was strangling her. She knew it was selfish. She wasn't blind to the small touches and kisses Stefan dropped on her from time to time. Breaking up with him was the right thing to do at the time, with her mind constantly filling with thoughts of his brother.

There was so much she needed to talk to him about…both of them about. She didn't know where to start. She just needed them right now, and that's all she could be certain of.

"You look like you could use a drink," Damon said, sitting up and holding the bottle out to her.

She offered a half smile and trudged towards the bed to grasp the bottle by the neck and slosh back a big gulp. Her eyes watered a little at the sting of alcohol hitting her throat, but she managed to hold back a cough and grimace before handing the bottle back to Damon. He set it on the night stand before stating, "we have wine too if you'd prefer…"

She stood at the foot of the bed uncertainly eyeing the space between the brothers. As if they read her mind, both reached out to pull her between them and her body melted with relief against their sides.

The brothers continued their conversation and idle talk as if she had never interrupted them but they let her know they were there by the small physical gestures. She was wedged between them on her back and they faced one another on their sides, propped up on an arm. She could smell their scents, so alike but so very different, and she let them fill her.

Her hands were placed on her stomach, icy cold seeping through her shirt. Stefan grabbed one hand and Damon, following suit, grasped the other. She jerked a little at the contact, she'd never shared this gesture with Damon. They continued talking as though it hadn't happened.

She watched the underside of Damon's sharp jaw line move with his words and Stefan's fan of thick lashes brushing his cheek bone as he blinked. She felt the vibrations in Damon's chest as he spoke in low tones and she felt her eyes drifting closed. She felt his thumb rub small circles across the top of her hand and she felt Stefan's breath brush across her face as he whispered, "she's so exhausted…"

Damon hummed a small response and stilled his thumb. She missed the movement and found herself moving closer to him, her face turning towards his arm that held up his head. She felt the sides of her nose, cheek, and lips rest against his skin.

It was then that she must have fallen asleep because a memory took hold of her mind and she transported to a different bed in a different time. It had been a while since she dreamed of the brothers, as they were only a blip in Katherine's time line.

This particular dream barely felt like a dream at all. She lay just as she fell asleep…wedged between two brothers. This time she was completely nude and they were tangled just as nude alongside her. She felt hot and thirsty. So thirsty.

She turned to Damon who smiled knowingly and tilted his head to the side, offering his neck to her lips. She immediately accepted, settling her lips against the thrumming of his pulse. His taste was exquisite and she moaned as he groaned and pressed his body against hers.

Stefan's fingers ran down her spine as she drank and writhed into Damon's body. Her lips were swollen and tinged with blood as Stefan grasped her hair hand yanked back to bring her mouth painfully to his.

She moaned at the pain and the feel of his tongue lapping at his brother's blood on her mouth.

"Elena…"

She grasped at them harder, clawing at their bodies to bring them both closer.

That wasn't right, Elena didn't belong here…she heard her name a few more times and she was back to reality. Her eyes snapped open and she tore out of the bed, stumbling into Stefan's desk in a clatter of strewn papers and a newly shattered lamp.

Her chest was heaving as she fought to bring her mind and body back to the waking world.

"Elena…" Stefan said again, tentatively reaching out to her.

She reached up to touch her lips to find them bloody and she looked towards Damon, horrified. His neck was bloodied and eyes cast downward.

"You two shared her," Elena finally stated, sounding calm despite the pounding of her heart and shaking of her hands.

Stefan averted his eyes then, head dropping. Damon's eyes then peered slowly up to meet hers, taking in a slow and deep breath.

Elena licked her lips then, tasting Damon but not the same Damon as in the memory. She remembered Stefan licking his brother's blood from her mouth, the intimacy behind that. She felt sick.

"And nobody warned me…you both knew I'd get these memories. Yet…you say nothing?" her voice finally shook with the emotion she was feeling.

"It was a long time ago, let's not get dramatic," Katherine stated from the doorway.

They all snapped their heads towards her intrusion. Elena immediately looked back towards Damon, "But she didn't have to compel you, " she took a step forward and muttred flatly, "did she."

Damon looked at her with a sadness that she'd never seen from him before. He replied gently, "I loved her."

Elena couldn't help the stream of tears that came on like a stampede. She took another step forward so that she was leaning against the foot of the bed. She spoke harshly through her tears, "But she didn't love you. You don't do that to someone you love. You…you don't. I feel everything she feels. She didn't love you."

His eyes held hers for what seemed like forever until he finally blinked and stated, "I know."

Xxxx

The dreams involving both brothers seemed to come in a flood of memories the next few days and nights. Elena distanced herself from everybody as she experienced laughing with a human Stefan, and being chased by a human Damon.

She was having trouble eating and rarely left the room she took as her own down the hall from everyone else. It was the smallest room, once used as the housekeeper's quarters, but she liked the darkness and comfort of it.

After an especially erotic memory involving Damon's mouth between her thighs and Stefan's hands rough at her breasts, she awoke to a pair of blue eyes boring into hers.

"Damon?" Elena mumbled groggily, pushing up in bed. Her body still pulsed and shook from the memory of his hands grasping her hips firmly in place as she trembled and quivered beneath his tongue.

As she shifted in bed to sit up, she felt the dampness between her legs and grimaced. It was useless trying to hide the nature of her dreams.

"It's hard to ignore it when my name is being called out down the hall…" Damon smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes.

Elena exhaled deeply, squirming uncomfortably under the covers. It was hard to ignore the burning between her legs from the borrowed memory. She raked a hand through her hair that was damp with sweat.

Damon grabbed her hand before she could tuck it away and looking down at it, murmuring, "I'm sorry this is happening to you."

Elena bit her lip and twitched a little from the skin on skin contact. "Damon," she pulled her hand away hastily, "I just…can't touch you right now."

Hurt flashed in his eyes and he immediately stood.

"No, wait," she hurriedly breathed, "I mean, it's…I just had a memory of you and…I mean I'm waiting for my body to catch up to present times. It doesn't always…get it."

He tilted his head a little and his eyes trailed to the source of the sweet smell filling the air, "Ah…"

He made it to the doorway before he paused, back muscles peaking from his shirt as he grasped the door frame. Without turning around he asked softly, "May I ask what memory it was?"

Elena was a little taken aback by his inquiry, but understood his curiosity. Perhaps it was the closeness she felt to him through the memories but she felt the words leave her lips before she could really stop them.

She spoke to his back, he didn't dare turn around and meet her eyes. She supposed it was because he didn't want to embarrass her or maybe it was because he was afraid she would stop talking. A very small part of her, the darkest part of her, told her it was because he knew she wouldn't have the willpower to explain it with just words.

She was careful to speak in terms of Katherine, though in her dreams it was as if it were happening to her: Elena. She stumbled over her words when she reached the part where he knelt before her and flattened his tongue against the entire length of her.

"She…she liked that you took your time and that you didn't stop after she…" Elena swallowed hard, shifting again under the covers, "it was intense."

Damon's hands fell from the doorframe and after a few moments of silence he said very quietly, "I shouldn't have asked you to tell me."

Elena replied shakily, "you can't even look at me…"

In a flash of vampiric speed, Damon was sitting on her bed cupping her face in his hands and staring into her eyes. She gasped and grasped his wrists tightly; to push him away or hold on tighter she wasn't sure.

"I'm looking at you," he brought his face slightly closer, "I'm always looking."

She pulled away when she heard Stefan's door creak open and his feet pad down the hallway. He entered the room to find Damon standing against the wall and Elena drinking a blood bag Damon had brought her.


	7. Chapter 7

Xxxx

Elena heard Damon outside of the door rummaging through his closet. She was nursing a glass of whiskey and soaking in his tub. She had opted for a bubble bath and chose a random playlist on her phone.

Currently _Sail_ by AWOLNATION reverberated off the stone of the bathroom floor.

She made the mistake of closing her eyes because almost immediately she was thrown into another memory. Stefan was thrusting inside of her from behind as she lay atop Damon who was also sliding into her front.

She must have dropped her glass in the waking world because a shatter then a rush of cold air brought her eyes snapping open. Damon was standing at the tub, eyeing the shards of glass scattered across the grey stone.

Her eyes, still glazed and lazy from the intense memory, met his. He clenched his jaw a few times before letting his eyes drop to the swell of her breasts peeking out from the diminishing suds.

She shifted in the water, gasping a little as the water stirred between her legs. She felt her breathing quicken as she fought to tamper down the intense arousal that always stuck around after a memory.

She groaned and let her head fall back onto the lip of the tub in resignation, "This is too hard Damon," her speech was a little slow from the alcohol.

"Which one?" he asked, knowing she would understand that he wanted to know about the memory.

This time she didn't speak as if she were Katherine, "You were both inside of me. Both of you."

He breathed out slowly and clenched his jaw again. She held her hand out to him, eyes pleading. He closed his eyes and covered his mouth with a hand, thumbing his cheek bone roughly as if to gather his thoughts.

Finally he pinched the bridge of his nose and stated in an exhausted tone, "I almost forgot about that one…"

Without further pause, he shed his clothes, keeping his eyes locked on hers, and slowly submerged himself into the bath water. The ripples in the water gave away the tremble that quivered through Elena's body as his legs brushed against hers. His feet nudged against her sides and he stilled, watching her nod her head to the music as if her body wasn't quivering against his touch under the water.

"What is it like Elena?," Damon asked above the music. Elena, reaching up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, replied, "It's like touching someone, learning how they feel inside of you, what they smell like, taste like…but then knowing it was never really between you. It's a memory that is as real as any of my other memories but I know it didn't happen to me. "

Damon nodded slowly and reached for the bottle of whiskey that sat beside the tub. He took a long gulp before returning it to the floor.

Elena continued in a rush as if she'd been bursting to let the words tumble from her mouth all along, "It's almost tortuous to wake up and still feel like these things happened. My body feels it all…and then I wake and it's not there, it's not real. It leaves me feeling like I've lost something."

Damon hooked his feet on her sides and brought her forward in a quick sloshy motion. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and brought her to his chest. She returned the gesture and allowed herself to embrace the eldest Salvatore.

He spoke into her hair in the gentlest voice she'd ever heard him use, "I'm going to give you a memory that won't be hers."

She nodded, breathing him in and feeling a jolt hit her belly like a pulse of adrenaline.

He ran his hands down her slick back and then back up again to grasp her shoulders and push her slightly back to meet her eyes, "I don't want to hurt my brother but sometimes we approach things differently. I know I can help you."

She nodded again, "I don't want to hurt anybody."

Before she could say more, his hand drifted under the water and trailed down her inner thigh. Her body tensed up but he continued and took no time in plunging a finger gently but forcefully inside of her. She arched and fell into his chest with a loud, "God…"

"Shhh," he whispered, leaning his cheek on her head. She grasped his shoulders, fingernails digging into skin.

"You're in control here. This is no dream, no borrowed memory. I want you to take control and make this memory with me," he murmured into her hair.

His middle finger was very still inside of her, and she was very still against him. The song set the beat to her rhythm she started against his hand. Slow and sure, she slid along the length of his finger while keeping her eyes locked on his.

"Another," she whispered shakily.

He eased a second finger inside of her, hooking slightly into the spongy flesh. She bit her lip and let go of his shoulders to grasp the sides of the tub. She started up the rhythm again, clenching around his fingers and wishing she didn't know how good a different part of him would feel inside of her instead.

"Something that I would say to you that you won't find in any borrowed memories of hers is that I literally hurt when I see you in pain," Damon said.

She stopped her movement to peer into his eyes, something she rarely opened herself up to doing. Looking into his eyes too long always made her uncomfortable in the way he seemed to touch something she wasn't ready to acknowledge…something only the sire bond had urged her to face.

It was even harder after Denver.

"This has been _fucking torture_," he added, his voice hoarse behind the honesty.

She saw the Damon from Katherine's memories then. The open honesty on his face was beautiful despite the reasons behind it. He looked hopeful and broken all at once.

She slid off of his fingers then, realizing she needed this more than a release at his hands. He placed his palms at her waist and let his forehead fall to press against hers. Their skin was moist from the humid bath, but cool to the touch.

Her fingers crept up his chest and rested flat against the thrumming of his heart. She felt him swallow thickly.

"I shouldn't have been so harsh to you before…when I first learned you shared her," Elena admitted quietly, pressing even harder into his forehead with hers.

Their ears perked at the sound of Stefan walking down the hall, surely to check on Elena in her room.

"You ready to get out?" he asked, pulling away from her without addressing her statement.

She nodded, muttering a _yeah_ and toweled off quickly.

Xxxx

Damon remained in the bath, watching Elena pull a robe around her body that he eyed almost greedily as he was entirely sure he'd never be privy to view again. Between the three of them, guilt seemed to take precedence over everything else. It's because they all loved one another too fucking much.

She left the room without a word, though he knew even without turning around to watch that she glanced back at him before exiting.

It wasn't but maybe five minutes later that Stefan entered the bathroom to crunch over the glass still glittering across the floor. Damon didn't have to look up to know he wore a Stefan-esqu scowl. He couldn't help but sneak a peek anyway.

Sure enough, the younger Salvatore stood with his arms crossed and his lips pressed in a tight grimace.

"C'mon Stef, not tonight," Damon muttered dejectedly.

Instead of the tumble of biting words he expected to come up like vomit from his brother's mouth, Stefan shed his clothes with a heavy sigh and sunk into opposite side of the tub.

Damon murmured, "Ouch," at the swirl of red rising from Stefan's foot in the already cloudy bath water. He grasped Stefan's ankle to lift his foot from the water, a good sized chunk of glass embedded in the heel.

Damon squeezed his brother's heel and plucked the shard, flicking it back onto the floor. Stefan grunted a little as Damon propped Stefan's foot on his knee, waiting for it to heal. Once the wound closed, Damon jerked his knee to let his brother's foot plunk back into the water with a heavy splash.

"Can you wash your fingers please," Stefan demanded in a dull tone, head propped on the lip of the tub and eyes cast towards the ceiling.

For a moment Damon thought he was referring to the blood that ran down his fingers from his brother's wound, but a shift in the air brought the strong scent of Elena to his nose.

"Yeahhh…about that…" Damon started, grabbing the bubble bath and pouring a copious amount to his fingers.

Stefan held up a hand to stop him from further explaining, "Just…can we just all keep our hands to ourselves until this all blows over. Please."

Damon sighed, staring at the underside of Stefan's chin. He nudged Stefan's thigh with his big toe and said gently, "Hey."

Stefan heaved an unnecessary sigh and rolled his head forward to connect eyes. He looked tired. They all looked tired.

"It won't happen again," was all Damon could say.

Xxxx

Katherine tried dialing Elijah for the thirtieth time that evening. She had spent most the day pacing on the front entryway, gnawing her nails to the nubs, thumbs on perpetual redial.

Startled was an understatement when her phone was whizzed out of her hands and Damon zipped to the driveway, calling out, "And why are you trying so _desperately_ hard to reach Mr. Elijah?" He held the phone out and feigned shock, "thirty one outgoing calls. Pathetic K, even for you…"

She clenched her jaw and stormed over to him, snatching her phone from his prying little man hands. She knew she was being careless but the desperation _was_ getting to her. She was nervous and she _hated_ being nervous and still at the same time. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to run and save her ass.

Damon of course, a regular Private _Dick_, was quick to note her discomfort.

He folded his arms and leaned on one foot, cocking his head to the side, sneering, "You're scared. Spill it. What are you so nervous about Katherine?"

She tossed her hair and jutted out a hip, crossing her arms in the same fashion, "You know even all that soap doesn't cover up her smell. You reek of pussy."

Damon stuck his fingers under his nose and took an exaggerated whiff, "Mmmm, don't I know it. Premium shit right here…smell familiar?"

She slapped his hand rather hard out of her face when he waggled his fingers under her nose.

"Hey, ouch. Uncalled for, lady," he kicked at her ass as he walked past, calling over his shoulder in a sing song way, "I will find out. Easy or hard way…"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm terribly sorry this story has sat here untouched for so long. I lost my grandmother to her long battle with cancer and it hit us all pretty hard. I finally got my muse back and thanks again to those who are enjoying this journey with me.**

xxxxxx

Elena noted that Damon kept his distance for the next week. Luckily the dreams of the brothers seemed to have run their course and a strange wall had been drawn up between them and her. She harbored an intense feeling of something skimming on anger and jealousy at all of the hidden moments between the brothers and Katherine. She knew it wasn't fair to feel this way, she wasn't meant for these memories.

It was clear in the memories of Katherine's role in the plots against Klaus were more self-preserving than helpful but that didn't surprise Elena. It surprised her that there was a part inside of Katherine that cared very much for Damon's well-being when the mood struck her.

It was even more dizzying to see the memory of Katherine going through what she went through with Klaus and watching Stefan turn Ripper for his brother. She felt Katherine's anxiety as if it were her own, and a heavy sadness at watching a boy she loved and turned so long ago, become a monster. Katherine had made the decision with ease when Klaus let her free and handed her his blood to cure Damon. She heard with Katherine's ears the sound of her own voice up the stairs of the boarding house and the sight of herself was strange. Katherine felt anger towards her, almost jealousy at the sight of her leaning against Damon on the bed. Even so, there was no malice in her heart when she seemed to throw her words at Elena; there was a hope for Damon. She wanted Damon to be alive and to be happy. It was a fleeting moment and a rarity in her usual sour thoughts. Loving them both seemed like a normal idea to Katherine even though the concept was illicit to Elena.

The next memory to appear to her did so in a way that physically hurt Elena. She was sitting at the kitchen table, sucking down a blood bag Damon had placed outside of her door earlier that morning. She had sniffed the bag to determine whose hands left it for her. Nine times out of ten it was Damon.

Her eyes grew heavy after the last drop hit her throat and the zing of energy fizzled away. She was transported to the search for the cure. She as Katherine was trailing the group through the woods, quickly formulating a plan to snatch and run with the cure. She needed that cure, she needed to keep it from Klaus at all costs. The ritual could kill them all. In the cave she saw Jeremy…

"Elena…ELENA…" Damon's voice coupled with his hands shaking her shoulders.

Her eyes popped open and her vision slowly focused on his eyes hovering above her face. She tried to sit up quickly, looked around her and wondered why she was on the kitchen floor.

"Damon…Where's Jeremy?" Elena croaked, grasping the side of her head that hit the floor too hard.

Xxxxx

Damon pursed his lips and swallowed thickly. What did she mean where was Jeremy. She knew fully well he was a pile of ashes along with her family home. Her eyes were so wide he was afraid they'd fall out of their sockets if he didn't put her at ease.

"Let's get you upstairs…" he murmured, pulling her up by the elbow.

She complied, gaining her strength with each step as her body healed quickly from the fall. He watched her profile as she tried to peer behind her as he followed her up the stairs. She had the usual look of exhaustion but now worry and confusion knotted her face.

Once she was in her room he urged her into her bed with gentle but firm hands at her shoulders. She was so damn pale. He regretted the distance he had put between them this week but knew it had to be done. He needed to figure out what was happening for all of their sakes and the best way to do so was to not let anything cloud his intuition. There was something happening beyond a series of memories. There was something to be afraid of if Katherine was behaving like a jumpy little house cat.

"Elena, what happened before you fell?" Damon asked, keeping his voice even and eyes locked on hers.

She swallowed slowly, the sound dry and uncomfortable to his ears. She opened her mouth to talk, but closed it again, her bottom eyelids scrunching upwards in thought. She looked more like her human self than she had in a long time. It reminded him of the time she caught the flu and he snuck into her bedroom after Stefan had left. Her hair had been just as stringy and under her eyes just as dark.

Elena pulled her old cheerleading hoodie tighter around her body and let her head lean against the headboard as she finally spoke, "It was a memory of Katherine tracking us to get to the cure. The last thing I saw was Jeremy's face and then there was nothing. It hurt, like hot metal in my skull…then I woke up."

Damon kept his face still even though his brain was in overdrive. She had been compelled to forget what happened to Jeremy. Why? By who? It had to be Elijah. His mind quickly snapped together Elijah seeking out Elena once she had turned. He had disappeared when Elena went to the restroom that night at the club. He could have easily swept in there and swept her mind clean of anything he wanted. He could have been the one to force her into turning her humanity back on.

He had to handle this delicately. Katherine was obviously in cahoots with Elijah and there was something the both of them were trying desperately to contain. Of all the originals, Elijah was the only one he trusted to do the right thing in the end…but he couldn't be sure Elena's best interests were number one if something more near and dear to Elijah was at stake.

He couldn't let Elena know she'd been compelled, that was a given. There wasn't anything they could do about it anyway. He'd have to lie. It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last. He couldn't risk her losing it all over again. Not now. Not until he knew what was going on and how to keep her safe.

"Maybe it was a memory Katherine can't remember all of herself. Jeremy is away from all of this, let's just focus on getting through this," Damon tried his soothing voice.

It seemed to work, her body immediately relaxed and she drifted within minutes, her head rolling to the side.

He watched her for a while, his vision blurring her face into the background as his mind continued to traipse over the facts that he had so far. After Katherine had ganked the cure she must have gone to Elijah with it. He sought out Elena after learning that she had turned and decided it necessary to turn her humanity back on and to delete anything tying Katherine to Jeremy's death…and the fact that Jeremy was dead at all. He needed Elena in her compassionate form. He needed Elena to trust Katherine enough to confide in her through these memories. He needed Elena to keep a secret.

He thought of the frantic calls Katherine seemed to be making to Elijah and how she was desperate to find out if Elena had retrieved a particular memory. It only made sense that Katherine had been compelled as well. This was a very hard task to undertake since Katherine's cold heart was always pumping vervain through her veins. Elijah must have gone to great lengths to earn her trust first; also a tough feat to conquer.

He'd keep his mouth shut—for now. It was easier to figure things out when people get comfortable. That's when they slip.

Xxxx

When Damon retreated from the room, Elena let her eyes pop open. He must have been in deep thought because he had been fooled by her fake sleeping. She tore out of the bed and rummaged through her things until she found her phone. She dialed Jeremy's number at least a dozen times before giving up and tossing her phone to the side.

She was tired and her brain was slow these days but she dialed another number, certain she would find out the truth. She knew something wasn't right, she felt it with every heavy thump of her heart.

"Hey you, I haven't heard from you in a while…" Matt's voice caused her to sigh in relief.

"Matt, I need you to come get me," Elena hissed in the phone.

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone, causing Elena to grip it tighter.

"Matt?" she tried again, almost in tears, "where's Jeremy?"

She knew he answered her but the pain in her skull took over and she woke up an hour later in her doppelganger's grasp.

Xxxx

"I want to speak with Elijah," Elena tried again, tears pooling in her eyes.

Katherine kept shaking her head at each request, insisting that he couldn't be reached.

"Don't you think I've tried? He is gone Elena, I can't reach him," she hissed, raking a hand through her curls in frustration.

"Why won't anyone tell me what happened to Jeremy. I can't see the memory. What did you do to him?!" Elena's voice reached an octave too high.

"Keep your voice down for fuck's sake girl, our _lives_ are on the line here. What did you see?!" Katherine said in barely a whisper, but the venom behind the words spoke volumes.

"You stole the cure and I saw my brother there too. Then it goes blank and it hurts in the space where it should be in my head," Elena explained, not hiding her tears any longer.

Katherine rolled her eyes and growled, "that's all?!"

"I'm not speaking another word until somebody tells me where the hell my brother is," Elena shouted, red in the face and back against the wall.

On cue, the brothers entered the room cautiously. Stefan opened his mouth to speak but Damon beat them all to it. He locked eyes with Katherine for a moment, willing her to play along.

"Elena, Katherine didn't do anything to Jeremy. He's not in any pain, he's just away right now," Damon ignored the sharp intake of breath that his brother pulled in beside him.

Katherine couldn't help but snap her head towards him, surprise written ever so briefly across her features. What did he know? Why was he protecting her and lying to Elena?

Elena didn't buy it, she became frantic and turned to Stefan, stalking up to him and taking his face in both her hands. She peered into his eyes and said between tears, "Please Stefan…"

Before Stefan could open his mouth, Katherine sped behind Elena and snapped her neck with a sickening _pop_.


	9. Chapter 9

Elena's body remained crumpled on the floor as Damon sprang into action. He had Katherine against the wall and before she could fight back with her superior strength, Stefan had his hand around her throat.

She struggled for air, clawing at Damon's chest and spatting like a feral cat. They both loosened their grips when she started to still and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She gasped for air as she slid down the wall to their feet.

Stefan knelt down and seethed, "You're going to tell us what's going on or we will kill you."

She had her eyes closed but Damon could tell she was just calculating her next move. She was no fool and he had learned everything there was to learn about manipulation from her.

"Like I told her," she nodded towards Elena's still body, "he can't be reached."

Damon tilted his head to the side, peering down at her tense form. He caught what she was trying to say. She was clever.

"Seems like Elijah's been doing a lot of compelling these days brother…" Damon announced, locking eyes with Stefan as he stood to face him.

Before Stefan could respond in question, Damon squatted down and stuck his finger under Katherine's chin to lift her gaze to his. "Send him a message. Tell him Elena has the memory. Let's get this show on the road."

Katherine rolled her eyes and replied, "Trust me, you want to wait until she has the memory. There's no going blind into this. He'll know the moment he sets eyes on her if she has the memory or not. She'll just bawl about her brother and he'll kill us all."

"I don't really think we have a choice. The moment she wakes up she's going to find a way out of here and to her brother. She'll stop at nothing to make sure he's ok. If she knows the truth we'll be back at square one," Stefan stated, glancing forlornly at Elena's body.

Damon knew he was right, he'd have to force their hand.

"Here it is Kitty-cat. You're dead either way. I will stake you in your sleep and you know it. Message him or I'll do it for you," Damon smiled his most endearing smile.

She laughed a laugh that rivaled Elena's humanity-switch-off laugh and stood up to fold her arms defiantly across her chest.

"You're making a huge mistake," she smirked.

Taking her—and his brother—by surprise, he shoved a hand down the front of her loose jogging pants and plucked her phone from its' hiding place inside the front of her panties. He'd been waiting to do that. He even managed to graze her sweet spot with his pinky and enjoyed watching her jerk away as he did so.

"Give it back," she said flatly as he put the phone to his nose and peered at her with his eyes heavy lidded.

"In a minute. I have some sexting to do…" Damon was enjoying the look on her face. Seeing her squirm now was better than fucking her senseless back in the 1800s.

"You're going to regret this. He's going to be very angry when he realizes she isn't of use to him. You'll get her killed," Katherine added, her eyes trying to scare him out of the text he was composing.

"Elijah, Katherine is an idiot and has failed you. We know everything. I'd come now if I were you before the entire plan goes down the crapper," Damon read from the phone loudly with a smile on his face.

Katherine lunged at Damon but he was expecting it and merely moved to the side, phone held out of reach.

"Don't send that. I'll do it. I'll tell him the memory came to her just now. Maybe it'll give her time to come across it if he doesn't come immediately," she exclaimed, her eyes becoming fearful.

Damon shrugged and pressed send, causing Katherine's jaw to drop briefly before she sprang her fangs and tore the phone from his hand, snapping his wrist in the process. _That_ he was also expecting. Still hurt like a mother fucker, but worth the look on her face.

He smiled smugly when she frantically read the sent message over again. It simply said, _Elena has the memory._

Xxxx

Elijah wasn't surprised that he received another text from Katherine as he walked through the airport upon landing. _Things got messy. No memory yet._

He knew the Salvatores would pry and pry and Katherine would slip. He counted on it. She would need their help anyhow.

Elena was sitting by an open window in the living room when he arrived and it pained his heart to see her face damp with tears and lips as pale as the moonlight that washed over the room. She looked much like Katherine did the night she came to him with the memory of Tatia's.

"Come with me," Elijah said simply, reaching a hand out to her.

When she didn't obey, just turned her gaze back out of the window, he glanced briefly at Damon. Then at Stefan. When he was certain they had no plans to stop him, he walked slowly to Elena and knelt in front of her.

"I'm sorry about your brother," he spoke softly, a part of him genuinely so.

She glanced down at him then, reminding him of how she looked at him during the ride to the club the night he stole her pain from her. He tested her compulsion, fearful she'd taken a page out of Katarina's book and had vervain in her system. "Say it back to me now Elena, say the words."

She whispered back the words he asked her to remember and he nodded and murmured, "I can take it away again if you want. I need you here though Elena; present. This is very important."

She took in a deep breath, her chest shaking in duress. He watched her eyes flick towards the brothers and then downwards towards her hands. She whispered so softly but it seemed to echo around the room to all their vampire ears, "yes, I need you to take it away."

He nodded and opened his mouth to compel away her memories of her brother's death yet again, but she stopped him with fingertips to his lips. "Did she do it?"

Elijah contemplated his answer. It was important for Elena to trust him and equally important for her to at least cooperate with Katarina. He opted to ignore her and instead pressed the smallest of kisses to her fingertips. It wasn't something he was planning on doing, but it was the best he could do aside from saying he was sorry all over again. He needed her cooperation more than her trust or forgiveness in the end of things. He was saying goodbye.

He caught her eyes and knew that she knew the truth but he took it away as quickly as it came. After the memories were wiped she was asleep and he placed her on the couch. She wouldn't be waking until the memories were complete.

"I'll arrange a nurse to come and keep her alive so that when the time comes she'll be ready," Elijah informed the brothers without taking his eyes off of Elena's restful face. "Now, where is Katarina hiding?"

Xxxx

Katherine tried to remain composed but as usual, her heart hammered away any possibility of fooling him. He appeared calm, though even whilst angry he remained cool so one couldn't be too sure. He walked slowly around the room, his hands folded neatly behind his back and eyes thoughtfully trailing over her things strewn about the floor.

"This must be very difficult for you Katarina…knowing you're to die at the end of all of this," he began, finally settling his gaze on her and stopping at her feet.

She shrugged and examined her nails, anything to keep her hands from shaking.

"I'll never forget how frightened you looked when the memories finally showed you your fate. It's tragic really, finding out your life is just a misfortunate piece of the puzzle. Think of all the suffering you've endured just out of some bad luck of being born what you are," he continued in an annoyingly even tone. It was as if he was musing over the weather rather than her demise.

A million snotty rebuttals swam around her mind but she kept her mouth clamped shut. He would do his threatening bit and then leave her alone. She knew she had little time to figure a way out of this mess. She knew she could if only she could get her hands back on that cure.

At one time Elijah loved her. He hated this Katherine façade she put on but Katarina had died the night she killed her and she'd spent the rest of her years fighting for her survival. She knew when he looked at her it was just the real girl he had loved so long ago. She saw it in his face again when he looked at Elena. They were just mere flawed copies of his perfect true love.

Xxxx

Damon watched as the nurse inserted an IV into Elena's arm and taped it tightly down. He frowned at how just how tightly it was rammed into her skin. The nurse must have noted his displeasure because she cheerily stated, "it's just so her vampire healing powers won't push the foreign object out of her arm. She doesn't feel a thing!"

She continued humming and hooking up a blood bag to the IV as Damon plopped heavily into the arm chair next to the couch. This was getting to be too much.

"Hey," Stefan called from the door way before heading over to the drink table.

He poured himself and Damon a drink before stopping to watch the nurse finish up.

"You two keep an eye on the bags, I'll pop in once a day but you'll need to change these out as they get low!" The nurse smiled a horse like grin before exiting the room in a cloud of cheap perfume.

Stefan handed him his drink and he knocked it back almost greedily. Damon watched Stefan for a while, who looked as tired as anyone else in the house. His brother just stood there, taking small sips of his drink and staring at Elena who remained still in her sleep.

He felt powerless which made him restless but there was nothing to do but wait.


	10. Chapter 10

Even in her dream state Elena was able to understand when she had finally come across the memory. It came before others were complete so she continued to dream and journey through everything there was in Katherine's mind. The compulsion glued her to sleep until the last memory, which was very insignificant and had to do with a pet dog Katherine had for a while in the sixties, and it left her feeling complete and clear headed.

When THE memory occurred she had just finished a rather upsetting memory where she became agitated at a hair stylist who misunderstood the meaning of a trim and proceeded to bleed out after she (Katherine) stabbed her with a pair of scissors.

Her eyes shot open and she she sat up, feeling better than she had in weeks. She noted the sting of a needle in her arm and she ripped it carelessly out and sprung to her feet. She took the stairs by twos and burst into Katherine's room with a wide grin on her face, "got the memory!"

Katherine's eyes grew wide, but only for a second, before she hushed her and closed the door behind her.

"Say the words Elena," Katherine insisted, causing Elena to automatically say the same words Elijah had compelled her to say earlier. She was surprised at the strange language coming from her mouth.

As soon as the words were out and spoken, the happiness drained away and her full comprehension of the memory washed over her.

"Oh god…" she whispered.

Xxxx

Damon found Elena and Stefan sitting on the roof. It was their spot and he rarely intruded on it, but he needed to know what was going on and he'd be a liar if he said it didn't sting a little that she hadn't sought him out first or at least as well.

"Hey," Elena said softly when she noticed him approaching.

Stefan nodded towards him, his eyes thoughtful. Damon tried to read more from them but Elena took his hand and pulled him down to sit on the other side of her. She had her knees tucked under her chin and she smelled like the lavender of her soap and a little like his bourbon.

"The cure can only work if we all take it," Elena started, her eyes cast towards the sinking sun.

"Why are we taking the cure?" he asked dully, not liking the topic already.

"Klaus will force me and Katherine to take it. He needs it to save her," she went on, biting a little at her lower lip.

He looked at Stefan then, locking eyes with his brother as she spoke the last words he wanted to hear, "Tatia's alive and Klaus needs us to complete a ritual to turn her human again. She's a vampire too Damon…"

_Ritual_. Thoughts of fire and moonstones and Jenna dying crossed his mind. Katherine was terrified because she was to die in a ritual or just as worse in her mind, turn human.

"If you all take the cure, you'll all be human. That could be a good thing Elena," Damon tried, hoping but knowing it was too good to be true.

Stefan spoke for her then, an iciness to his voice, "the ritual states that for the cure to work, the three doppelgangers have to take it. One must die, one must be turned back into a vampire, and the other will remain human. It's the only way. Klaus is set on using the cure. He wants his hybrids and he wants Tatia by his side forever."

"So Katherine or Elena has to die. I'm assuming Katherine is playing her cards well and is looking to sacrifice Elena," Damon stated, standing quickly.

Elena's hand shot out to grab his wrist before he could turn and go, "No Damon. Elijah compelled her to obey him and be the one to die. She has no choice."

Damon nodded slowly, "Ok, I guess I'm having trouble seeing the problem with that. Really, this couldn't be better right? Katherine is out of our lives for good and Elena gets to be human again. I'd say this is one of our better problems."

Elena peered back out towards the dismal sun and returned her chin to her knees. Damon held his hands out in frustration and looked at his brother like _why the long faces?_

Stefan just shook his head slightly and said, "Tatia doesn't want to live Damon. She wants to die as a human so that her soul can be saved."

"So we'll do Tatia a solid and kill her before the ritual is complete and they are all human, we'll get out of here and keep Elena safe. Any compulsion she's under will just wear off anyway as soon as she is human. This is so simple guys, come on!" he tried again. What in the hell was the problem here?!

Stefan sighed and murmured, "I think Elena isn't able to tell us the whole story Damon. I think there's more to it and we're just going to have to trust her with this."

"Unbelievable…" Damon muttered, plopping down next to her again.

"I'm sorry Damon," Elena whispered.

Damon let his head drop and if he didn't feel like shit before, he felt like it now. Still, his frustration got the better of him. He wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet, not when there were still options.

"So, how is it Tatia's a vampire anyway. I thought Esther killed her and used her blood to make vampires," Damon sighed, still wrapping his mind around yet another girl with the same face invading his space.

Elena shrugged a little and said, "From what I can gather from the memory, she was turned by Esther and compelled to stay away from their family. When Esther was daggered I think the compulsion wore off and she was able to contact Klaus again. Esther told Tatia about the cure and Tatia told Klaus."

"And how did Elijah find out if Tatia didn't tell him?" Damon asked, feeling a twinge of sympathy for the man. He knew what it was like to be odd brother out…twice.

Damon noted with interest that Elena tensed at this question but relaxed a little as she chose her words, "When Katherine gained all of Tatia's memories she found out and went to Elijah with it, hoping to use the cure as a bargaining chip for her freedom from Klaus's pursuit."

"So here's a good question…does Tatia know that Katherine obtained all of her memories?" Stefan asked suddenly.

Elena shook her head vigorously, "No, that's the secret. She can't know that Katherine and I…"

She stopped then, sucking in her breath. She sighed almost sadly and shrugged a little in defeat. The compulsion wouldn't let her tread any further.

"And here we are…" Damon muttered.

"Here we are…." Stefan and Elena said in unison.

Xxxx

"I know you Katherine. I know you've got a trick or two up your sleeve. You're not one to roll over and die," Damon's voice called to her over the stream of hot water in his shower.

She lathered at her hair, taking her time with it. These locks didn't shine on their own…

"Oh Damon, do you really think there's anything little ol' me can conjure up under the compulsion of an Original?" she called back, turning to the side to give him an eyeful of her silhouette behind the steam.

She heard him chuckle and walk towards the shower. She turned fully around to dip her head into the stream of water and watched his eyes follow the clouds of lavender shampoo suds make their way down her abdomen and gather between her legs.

"There's still a secret that Elena's not allowed to talk about and it isn't that Tatia's alive. Who gives a rat's ass that Tatia's alive and wants to die and asked poor Elijah to complete the task. You know what that secret is and Elijah knows what that secret is. Now I'd like to know…" Damon stated, his eyes flicking back up to meet hers.

"I really can't say Damon, you seem to forget that I'm under the same compulsion as Elena. I'm sure that you'll figure your way into things…but I'd really recommend you sit back and enjoy the show," she added, spreading her legs slightly and arching her back into the water.

He seemingly ignored her double meaning and pressed on, "I know Tatia wants to be the one that dies and I'm pretty sure you're on board with that idea. So what, the secret is you're all planning some identical sister hijinks and are going to plan a switcheroo."

"Your uncanny ability to figure things out on your own continuously stuns me Damon…" Katherine muttered, trying to look defeated. She'd let him have that one.

xxxx

Damon found himself soaking in the tub once Katherine had toweled off in front of him and left a sudsy mess behind her. He did his best thinking in his tub. A little bubble bath, a little quiet time, a lot of alcohol and he was golden.

He sunk down into the hotter than hot water and closed his eyes, mulling over the facts. There was something that was bothering him, why did Esther tell Tatia about the cure and why compel her away afterwards?

Elijah learns of the cure and learns of Tatia's existence…and compels Katherine to keep her mouth shut? And now Elena is compelled to keep the same secret? What is the point of keeping this secret at all…

All he could figure out was that this annoying little plot twist was something that Elijah felt Katherine and Elena wouldn't be trusted to keep to themselves. Katherine, he could understand. But even Elijah knew Elena was trustworthy…unless it put others in danger. She'd always put those she cared about before her own well-being.

He sat up slowly in the tub. Clearly, there was something Elena needed to protect others from and she was being compelled from doing so…

He could only hope Elijah knew what he was doing and that the youngest doppelganger's had a few tricks of their own up their sleeves.


	11. Chapter 11

Xxxx

That night tensions were high and nobody said much as they all one way or another ended up in the living room in search of a drink and the comfort of the crackling fire.

Katherine was a few drinks ahead of everyone and lying on her back on the rug in front of the fire. She had placed a record in an old record player Elena had never noticed in the room before. It was a scratchy recording of classical music that Elena was not at all familiar with but it fit the mood and the others seemed to relax to it. It made her feel young and out of place at the realization that they were all probably alive when this music was first written.

Elena watched Katherine in a ways she hadn't before. She watched her in a way that she could commit to memory all of the little things Katherine did. She may have to pull off Katherine a time or two when Klaus arrived and she'd need to fool more than just him.

Katherine had a way about her that wasn't forced but on purpose. She oozed sexuality that was exuded but not because she pushed it. It was just there and she knew how to project it even when her mind wasn't aware. Like just now, she moved to take a sip from her glass and she did so with such fluidity that it looked more like a dance than a simple task.

Katherine's fingers moved along invisible piano keys by her sides with the music that popped and scratched under the record needle. She could see why men were so drawn to her even without compulsion or the lure of a micro mini dress. She just had a way about her that would even affect Elena if she let it.

"She's beautiful isn't she?" Damon murmured whisper-soft next to her, his voice as honey thick as the bourbon in her glass.

He must have been watching her as intently as she'd been examining Katherine. She knew he was just digging, just trying to get under her skin. He wanted more answers and she wasn't relenting. She couldn't.

"She's just taking things in Damon," Katherine answered for her, rolling onto her belly and crossing her ankles and the air. She was giving them both a healthy eyeful of cleavage beneath her borrowed black tank.

Elena took a sip from her glass and averted her eyes away from Katherine's body and towards Damon's inquisitive gaze.

"It's always interesting to see what you look like, I find myself staring at Elena sometimes wondering if I look the same way when I talk or walk. Then I remind myself that she's still a clumsy toddler compared to me so I shouldn't be worried…" Katherine added with a smirk.

Elena rolled her eyes and let her head drop to the back of the couch, only to lift it again when she realized Damon's arm was draped along it.

Stefan remained quiet in the chair next to the couch, swishing the ice noisily around in his empty glass. Elena tried to catch his eye but he was lost in his thoughts. She sighed heavily, wishing there was something they could all do to lighten the mood, just once. She wouldn't speak her mind though; she'd just end up with suggestive sneers from the half-drunken Damon and Katherine. They were really quite the pair when the alcohol cooled the animosity between them.

Another glass and she'd be feeling pretty good. The alcohol settled warm in her belly and caused her mood to lift a little anyhow. The music was nice and after another glass that Stefan refilled for her as soon as he filled his own, she was stepping over Katherine who was on her back again and holding her hand out to her.

Katherine scrunched her nose and muttered, "I'm not moving. And I can see up your shorts. You should really wear underwear Elena…"

Elena rolled her eyes and muttered to the brothers that she was in fact wearing underwear, earning her a cackle out of Katherine. Even so, Katherine reached up and placed her hand in Elena's and allowed her to pull her to her feet.

"Teach me to dance like you did to music like this," Elena asked, pushing away the oddity of the request. Her ulterior motive was to learn to move more like Katherine. She'd need to pull off a switch and she knew Katherine would understand her motives. Acting like drunken fools seemed the best way to go about it. Elena also hoped the sight of them together would be enough to side track the brothers from seeing their plans.

"Elena Gilbert, if I were wearing panties, you'd shock them straight off with your forward advances," Katherine stated in a british-like accent she must have sported long ago.

Elena allowed herself to relax and smile, even though her mind was in overdrive taking in everything there was to take in about Katherine's movements down to the way she blinked. She was sure Katherine was doing the same with her. She stiffened only a little as Katherine placed her hand on Elena's lower back and tucked her hand into hers, pulling her close to her body.

Elena blinked rapidly as Katherine tilted her chin up regally and slowly raised her hooded eyes to meet hers. It affected her as it shouldn't but she quickly realized Katherine was just showing her moves that weren't necessarily dance related that she could use later. It was different than seeing her memories from her point of view. There were still many things left to learn of Katherine Peirce…and Katarina Petrova. She wondered what mannerisms would be preferred around Klaus and Elijah. They were more important to fool.

She let Katherine sweep her around the room, only tripping over her feet a few times as the music sped and slowed it's dizzying runs of notes. When they finally stopped with flushed cheeks and glistening eyes in front of the couch, Katherine smiled a big smile that Elena had never seen but she tucked into memory immediately before she stated, "Well Elena, I think you may be a natural. I'd say you got it from me but we both got it from Tatia. We should really thank her for such superior genes, no?"

Elena smiled back, feeling a little lighter and a little more optimistic that things just may work out after all…

The smile faded from her face when a voice sliced through the pause between songs, "Well what did we walk into, love? Doing a little celebrating are we?"

_Klaus_.


	12. Chapter 12

Xxxx

If there was someone more fascinatingly beautiful than Katherine, it was Tatia. It stunned Elena that someone identical to them both could seem so much more…enchanting. She stood between Klaus and Elijah, her hair pulled back in a loose wavy bun atop her head. Tendrils framed her face that appeared slightly more olive than Elena and Katherine's. Her eyes were kind but calculating and she was dressed simply but elegantly in an emerald green maxi dress. Around her neck hung a beautiful metal cross that appeared to be very old.

Not a stitch of makeup marred her perpetually sun-bronzed face but she still outshone her younger doppelgangers. It was no wonder she won the affections of two men even after mothering a child out of wedlock.

"I told Tatia it was best she didn't meet you personally until the ritual. She has a tendency to get attached to people, didn't want her backing out of anything…" Klaus announced in his thick accent, "but she insisted. I have some things to tend to but Elijah here will fill you all in…and keep an eye on things."

He was gone in a whir of vampiric speed, leaving behind a small puff of air that rustled the hair around Tatia's face.

Elena had to remind herself that there was more to be done than gawk and she tore her gaze away from Tatia to face Elijah. He made eye contact with her and nodded slightly, giving her the go ahead.

She stepped forward and extended her hand slowly, glad the alcohol still had an effect and numbed her nerves enough to do so. Tatia smiled a soft smile and took Elena's hand in both of hers, "I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances, Elena."

Her voice took Elena by surprise. It was melodic with a hint of an accent Elena had never heard before. It was just as throaty as hers, but softer in a way. All Elena could do was offer a small smile in return and murmur very quietly, "I only hope we can somehow help you, Tatia."

"Elijah said you were a kindred spirit Elena, I very much look forward to getting to know you," Tatia smiled back. Her eyes shifted to Katherine and she let go of Elena's hands to step around her.

Elena couldn't help but breathe her in. Like she suspected, she smelled much like Katherine and she assumed much like herself.

"Katarina," Tatia stated, pulling her into a tight hug as if she knew her already.

Katherine looked uncomfortable but managed to return the gesture with light arms around Tatia's embrace.

"Tatia, we haven't much time," Elijah spoke softly from the doorway.

She let go of her hold on Katherine and stepped back, smoothing her dress and replying, "yes, of course."

Xxxx

They ended up with drinks in their hands and seated outdoors in a back patio area amongst flowers and old stone walkways that Elena had yet to explore. Tatia was folded in Elijah's arms on a bench facing Elena and Katherine who shared an identical bench. The brothers were seated on either side of the girl's bench in two outdoor chairs that probably cost more than the landscaping in the back yard.

The mood was relaxed more due to the alcohol and the sweet smelling air than the company and circumstances. Elena noted that Tatia's beauty seemed to suck in everyone around her and she noted it was really because the woman seemed to not notice the affect she had one anyone. She talked and smiled and made little hand gestures every other word. She was so effortlessly animated and comfortable in her skin. There was a youthfulness to her hearty laugh when Damon smoothly slid in a joke that had something to do with never aging.

"You're drooling," Katherine whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

Elena shook her head a little and a smile tugged at her lips, "She's just so…stunning. It's hard to believe that we came from her."

Katherine rolled her eyes at that and nudged her a little with her elbow, jerking her head towards Stefan. "Looks like you have a VP to your fan club little E."

Elena watched Stefan for a while. He openly watched Tatia and smiled softly every so often at her words. He looked so good for once. Less tired and eyes alight. She couldn't blame anyone for watching Tatia like that.

It seemed like forever that she watched him watching her. It wasn't until Stefan broke his gaze and glanced at Damon that she too glanced towards him…only to notice that his eyes had been trained on her. For how long, she wasn't sure, but he seemed to be intently watching her.

His lips twitched into a smile as if caught and she lowered her eyes and ducked her head.

"Well," Tatia said between a soft chuckle, "enough of all that. I'm sure Elijah would like to say a few things."

Elijah cleared his throat and leaned forward to set his empty glass on the little table between the benches. He trailed a finger along Tatia's hairline as he spoke, "Tatia sought out my brother to persuade him to seek out the cure so that she and him could live a long life together and have a real family amongst the hybrids they could make with a human doppelganger."

Elena leaned forward, concentrating on his every word.

"In reality my Tatia has lived far past her desired number of years and wishes to pass on…as a human."

Tatia touched her cross that hung at her neck lovingly and interjected, "I believe as humans we have souls but it's against God's way to live on forever and use his children as means to do so. I want to be with my daughter and her children and theirs…my family that has passed so long ago."

Damon crossed his arms and asked evenly, "Why have you waited so long to pursue the cure?"

She turned her almost majestic gaze onto him and replied, "Esther was the one that turned me all those years ago. It was a punishment. She hated that I came in between her sons and believed me evil for loving them both. She knew my faith and she knew she was damning me even though she believed vampirism to be a blessing at first for her children. She led Nikklaus and Elijah to believe I was dead; sacrificed to ensure they could live. She compelled me to leave but I never stopped trying to get back to them. One day I was able to and that was when I knew I could let them know of the cure."

"You would have had to wait for another doppelganger anyway. I thought in order for the ritual to work, one must die, one must turn, and one must remain human," Damon shot back, clearly not as taken with Tatia as the rest of them.

Tatia relaxed against Elijah, not appearing at all bothered by Damon's sharpness, "I can see you care very much for Elena. And from what I have heard…Katarina at onetime too. Maybe still. I can assure you, I'm here to help. You are correct about the ritual and I was and am willing to wait for it to occur."

Damon uncrossed his arms and took a huge gulp of bourbon and did an exaggerated sound in the back of his throat before stating plainly, "I'll just say it. I get the parallel story lines here. One girl, two brothers…so this won't come as a surprise to anyone when I ask—why in the world would Elijah allow the woman he loves more than anything in this world to just die. Why help her? I wouldn't do it. Stef wouldn't do it. I'm sure at one time in some strange way we wouldn't do it for the other one," he waved absently towards Katherine.

Katherine snorted a little and Elena sank back into her seat.

Tatia chewed thoughtfully at her lower lip as if not quite convinced herself that Elijah would allow her to do so. Elijah swept in and replied, "I think that if Elena were to ask you to do something for her that meant more to her than anything else, you'd comply. If not you, then Stefan would, that I'm sure of. Elena is, after all, here and alive because of his compliance to her wishes."

Damon clamped his mouth shut for a moment, the tendon in his neck straining, before mumbling into his glass, "Well then I guess there are two different kinds of love. One that dies and one that survives…"


	13. Chapter 13

Xxxx

Klaus didn't return that night but Elijah relayed that he wished for them all to stay put until he returned with his witch of choice that was currently hung up in New Orleans.

There was one room left in the boarding house but it was used as storage for the random things the brothers had accumulated through the years. After little discussion, Elijah and Tatia ended up in Damon's room because he knew he wouldn't be sleeping anyway. He took his bottle of bourbon and laid in the driveway under the moon. He couldn't really see the moon through the thickness of the clouds that were rolling in, but he felt it there.

Maybe it was because he was a creature of the night, but he felt his best outside in the moonlight.

Just like he suspected, and half hoped for, Elena came crunching along the cement in her little navy TOMS and blue jean shorts. Wordlessly, she laid beside him and took his hand that lay on his chest and moved it to grasp hers between their sides.

He didn't squeeze back when she gave him a few tight grasps.

"Stef mad at me?" Damon asked, slurring a little. Damn he might be a little drunk.

Elena sighed and admitted, "I don't know…maybe."

"Fucked up as usual…" Damon managed to say clearly.

She said nothing then and he took it as her agreement. That was fine. He was used to being punished for being the only damn one that says the truth half the time.

"Do you think my life is a curse?" Elena finally asked delicately towards the sky.

His head scraped a little against the cement as he turned to look at her profile. She was a little blurry but he could still make out that she was deflated.

"No, I don't think that. Do you think that?" he responded, moving the bottle with his free hand to rest on his chest.

"Don't you think it's strange that Tatia had a child out of wedlock and then fell in love with two brothers. Katherine had a child out of wedlock and fell in love with two brothers…was I destined to do the same? Is it a curse or just part of who we are?"

Damon let out a sputter of laughter and by the look it earned him, he knew it was the wrong thing to do. But damn this child cracked him up sometimes. Her and Stefan could seriously have made an army of brooding babies had their stories been written differently.

"No Elena. I don' t think that your life was to be played out like some poorly written romance novel. Plus, you fell in love with Stefan without a child and turned. Just because I may or may not love you to the moon and back doesn't mean that you are in love with two brothers. You simply got put into some terrible situations and I happen to be incredibly handsome. Your hormones ran amuck as a human and that carried over a little as a vampire. Your story is nothing like theirs. Plus, Katherine didn't love me."

Elena let go of his hand then and placed it over her eyes. She licked her lips and said, "Katherine did love you, just not in the same way you loved her. I felt it sometimes in her memories. It was there even if she buried it before she got a chance to realize it fully."

"And that pertains to you how?" Damon prodded. Damn this alcohol.

"I know I'm young and I haven't lived and I haven't loved that many people…but I do understand that there are different kinds of love and sometimes even two at once. I think it's unfair and wrong and at one time unthinkable, but I'm starting to get it and that scares me. I feel like I'm powerless and just a game piece in this strange curse of being a doppelganger and a vampire," she admitted hurriedly.

"Did you just admit that you love me?" Damon teased, just wanting her to stop with the over analyzing and to see her smile again.

"I care about you Damon and when I care about someone I genuinely love them. I'm just struggling with what kind of love that is…"

He swallowed hard and heard himself mutter, "The love that dies or the love that survives…"

She sighed at that and moved her head uncomfortably on the cement. He tugged her closer until she rested on his shoulder and his hand dangled above her chest. He wiggled his fingers a little until she laced her hand into his.

"So does that make me Klaus and Stefan Elijah. Would I really sacrifice someone's life to keep you alive?" Damon mused lightly.

Elena chuckled a little and said, "I think you are definitely a Klaus kind of love. But you're an Elijah kind of man…"

Damon smiled at that, "I hope that's a compliment."

"I hope it is too. Can we go sleep in a bed now?" she asked, standing up and offering her hand.

"Together?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes and said, "Don't push it. Stefan is still ominous in the shadows of the hallway."

Damon let out a bark of laughter, "I won't tell him you said that…"

She tossed him a smile over her shoulder and started walking towards the house but he stopped short, the bottle dangling by the neck at his side.

"Elena?"

She stopped and turned slowly, head tilted in question.

"Should I be worried?" he asked, a pleading in his voice that he couldn't quite mask.

She stared at him for a moment and he knew she was thinking about this secret that she couldn't talk about and he watched her face transform from relaxed to tense and back to relaxed again and she shook her head no.

"Don't be worried," she whispered before turning and walking towards the house again.

He knew a lie when he saw one. He knew in that moment he'd do whatever it would take to ensure she survived this. Even if it pushed her away from him forever.

Xxxx

He was tired after all and ended up plopping into bed next to Stefan who was wide awake and staring at the ceiling.

"Mad?" Damon asked

"Just because I love her differently than you, it doesn't mean that I love her wrongly or any less," Stefan stated.

Jesus Christ.

"Ok, I'm sorry. I go into douche mode under duress. Let's just focus on how we're going to keep the Bobsey twins from dying at the hands of their hot mother's boyfriend," Damon mumbled.

"They're going to pull off a switch. If you listened to half of what they were trying to tell us tonight, I'd say they have a pretty good plan going," Stefan retorted.

"If I listened to half of what they were trying to tell us, I'd already be asleep. Their plan has so many terrible possible outcomes that result in numerous death and blood splurting this way and that…I just couldn't tune in for long. I mean does anyone really think Klaus of all people would think anyone but Tatia is Tatia. Can you imagine Elena pulling that off. No, me either."

"Elijah thinks she can do it," Stefan said.

"Elijah is a love-struck idiot and I don't care. Klaus is going to slaughter him along with the rest of us."


	14. Chapter 14

Xxxx

Elena was just sinking into her pillow and shutting her eyes when there was a light rapping at her door. She sat up slowly and her eyes quickly adjusted to the two identical figures hurrying towards her bed.

She let Tatia and Katherine lead her through the dark boarding house and into the basement, only stopping once down the steps when someone stirred upstairs. Once they were seated in the back room near the cooler of blood bags, Tatia lit the candle stick she was grasping by the handle of the old bronze candle holder. Elena almost reminded her that there was a light switch in each room, but decided against it.

With the flickering of a flame dancing on their identical faces, the women wasted no time in planning their next move. Tatia took charge and filled in the silence with her melodic voice and her plans to have one of them take her place during the ritual.

Katherine immediately gasped, "but how would we ever make such a switch, Klaus would know in an instant that I wasn't you."

Tatia smiled and her eyes blinked slowly, "Yes, but he wouldn't catch on quite so quickly that Elena wasn't me."

Katherine shot Elena a look short of disgust, "There's no way she could pretend to be you Tatia. He would never fall for it. We'd all be dead."

Tatia squeezed both of their hands, "I believe, with our assistance, she could help me. You, Elena, are more likely to take my place. Elijah promised me so."

Elena swallowed hard; she had to agree with Katherine. She was the last choice in her mind. Katherine was sultry, yes, but that could easily be transformed into elegant.

"What do I need to know? How do I fool Klaus?" Elena asked, a waver in her voice.

xxxx

Elena lay in the middle of Damon's bed, listening to the brothers bicker about if this plan of Tatias' would indeed work. There were so many things Elena would have to master in order to fool the age old vampire. They seemed as confident as Katherine in her abilities.

Somehow Tatia's faith in her…Elijah's too…comforted her.

She felt the bed shift as the brothers lay on either side of her. She didn't bother opening her eyes to see who lay in front of her or who rested their forehead against her shoulder blade. She had her suspicions but not the energy to verify. Either way she was safe, encompassed by the dedication of two men who loved her in two entirely different ways and magnitudes. At least between that, she could sleep.

Xxxx

Once Klaus returned, he had insisted on a night out. Elena and the others dutifully readied themselves in their prospective living quarters. Damon and Stefan gave her some space to shower and dress as they sipped at bourbon on Damon's balcony.

Elena had opted for a knee length pencil skirt and blouse until Katherine had groaned and grabbed her arm, forcefully shoving her back into Damon's bathroom, "For Christ's sake Elena, we're not attending church!"

Once Katherine had thrown several garments into the bathroom and shouted at her to put on some "Goddamn lipstick", Elena strolled out onto the balcony where both brother's had witnessed the entire ordeal.

As much as she'd hate to admit it, Katherine knew what she was talking about, she could see it in both brother's eyes. A tightly fit, barely covering her ass, lacy white number with a built in push up bra later and she was ready.

She opted for taking a drink out of Damon's hand and gulping it down, leaving a crimson lipstick print behind. He examined the glass when she returned it in mock irritation, grazing his lips on her lip print to take the last gulp, "you look slutty."

Elena flashed him a phony grin, "yeah well, thanks for coming to my rescue in there."

Stefan stood and squeezed her shoulder lightly before walking back into Damon's room to ready himself.

Damon just smiled and let his eyes roam suggestively over her body which earned him a groan and a shove.

Tatia, Katherine and Elijah were gathered in the hallway waiting for them and Tatia gave Elena a knowing look. Tonight was the night they were to pay particular attention to the way Klaus treated and tested them. It would be very telling in how they would dupe him later on.

Tatia lightly reminded Elena in front of them all that Klaus would be especially hard on her. He would go to lengths to make her uncomfortable and she'd even help him along. Tatia had a role to play as well, and it wasn't going to be her usual kind self.

XXXX

Klaus had gone all out, renting a stretch limousine and offering a puff of his opiate filled hookah. He even convinced Rebekah to join in the festivities. Stefan had sighed heavily as Klaus and Rebekah droned on and on about their days with opiates in the twenties, only the elite got their fill of them.

"Get ready to fly," Katherine muttered as Elena accepted her puff.

Upon leaving, Elena overheard Klaus clap Stefan across the shoulders and state, "you could hardly tell which is which. Pity we can't keep them all."

Xxxx

The limo was top of the line. The smell of leather invaded Elena's senses; barely, but almost masking Katherine's strong perfume.

She sat wedged between Damon and Katherine, facing Stefan and Rebekah. Klaus and Tatia lined the side to her right.

"How old are you sweetheart?" Klaus asked Elena as he pulled a neatly rolled joint from his coat pocket.

She swallowed thickly, as all eyes settled on her. The opiates were settling warmly throughout her body but it made her mouth dry and senses almost too enhanced. She felt good, almost too good. She felt Katherine chuckle at her side and mutter to Damon, "she's feeling it now…"

"Eighteen," she finally murmured, locking eyes with Klaus.

He smiled and nodded slowly, his voice low and velvety, "ahh, eighteen. There must be a lot you wish to experience in this life. Now you have all the time in the world."

She shrugged a little, her eyes drifting towards Stefan's before blinking away and settling back onto Klaus's.

He smiled softly, tilting his head, "does it ever catch you off guard, seeing an old weathered man in the streets, knowing he has lived and loved and is so full of knowledge that only comes with age…and then look to your young Salvatore lover and realize he is an old weathered man inside?"

Elena was stricken by the question, tilting her head in the same fashion, lips parting. She had a moment just like that one evening. She had joined Stefan and Damon at The Grill one night and Damon had caught her staring at lengths at an elderly man. The man had kind eyes, though sad. He drank alone and smiled briefly when he caught her pensive gaze.

When she had turned her direction back towards the young faces of the two men before her, it really struck her how old they truly were. She laid in bed, entwined with a man that was double the age of the elder at the bar. What could it be like for Stefan, bedding just a baby compared to himself. It was unsettling in that moment.

Damon had cocked his head in question, as if he knew where her mind was dwelling. That night he tried to explain in not so many words what it was like to be a vampire, frozen forever in the same state…physically and mentally. One obtains more knowledge but never again grows as a person does. He was forever 28 no matter the life experiences he would obtain. He could be influenced and changed, sure, but not in the way an old man comes to live his life and evolve.

Klaus brought her attention back to the present when his voice parted her thoughts, "You can always tell someone's age behind their eyes. The way they look back at you and look at the world. You, sweet Elena, have an old soul. I suspect you have barely skimmed the surface of what it is to truly live though. So young," he took a long drag off of a joint and beckoned her with a finger to move closer so he could exhale between her parted lips.

She reminded herself that Tatia insisted she was compliant tonight as she leaned over Katherine and Damon to hover close to Klaus's lips and inhale his smoke. She could feel Damon's eyes piercing the side of her face as Klaus dared to brush his bottom lip against hers as she took in the last bit of his air.

She settled back into her seat, eyes fluttering closed as she slowly blew the smoke back out over their heads. She opened her eyes and swallowed thickly, her chest tingling as the drugs invaded her bloodstream.

Stefan reached across the limo to brush his fingers lightly over her knuckles, "you ok?" he mouthed, tension in his eyes.

She nodded, she really was. This feeling spreading through her body had erased her fears, guilt, pain, sadness. She was left with an open understanding of just how much time she had to live and love and give all that she had. If she could just ensure Elijah's plan worked. If she could just see this through.

Elena let Klaus slip the joint between her fingers and she lifted it up to examine it with glassy eyes.

"I have a question," Rebekah spoke up in her lazy drawl, "since we're getting to know young Elena here…"

Elena took a very small hit and coughed a little, passing it to Katherine, nodding at Rebekah to continue.

Rebekah propped her chin on folded hands and leaned forward, asking under hooded eyes, "I barely remember what it was like to be just a girl. The memories get jumbled and foggy..you'll see what I mean in a century or so," she waved her hand flippantly, "anyway, what was your first time making love like? Assuming you've unlocked the chastity belt?"

Klaus chuckled and clapped his hands together, "Oh that sister of mine, always one to get girl talk all wrong…"

Rebekah shrugged, casting a sidelong glance at her brother before returning her expectant eyes back to Elena who even with the drugs, was feeling uncomfortable at the shift in topic.

She cleared her throat and opted for a very vague reencounter of her first time, "It was with Matt, he was very gentle. He's very gentle in general."

Klaus clucked his tongue, "But it still hurt. Young men, they lack the knowledge and experience us older men have, am I right Damon?" he nudged the silent vampire at his left. Damon remained mum, taking another swig from his drink.

Elena nodded, "yes, it still hurt. The next few times were better but my heart just wasn't in it."

Katherine smirked, "So he never made you cum."

"He did… it was just…," Elena stumbled over her words, biting her lip.

Klaus chuckled, "Oh dear Elena, I'm not surprised. A woman is like an instrument. Anyone can pick one up and pluck the strings, finger the keys if you will…but it takes a musician to know how much to give, when to hold back, how hard, how slow. I assume your young body didn't know how to handle our Stefan. I trust he was gentle as well but with a much different out…_come_?"

Elena bit her lip as her mind drifted back to their first time. Klaus was right, she had clenched over and over around Stefan, her cervix dipping sharply into the top of him as he stilled deep inside of her. Her toes had gone numb and she had felt a delicious ache between her legs for days afterwards.

"He was gentle…but it was very different, he knew what I needed and wanted," Elena admitted, eyes flitting up to meet Stefan's, who's lips twitched into a subtle smile. She guessed nobody got the memo that they had broken up.

"Hm, that's not the Stefan who fucked me from behind while commanding his brother to kneel beneath and make me cum with his mouth…"Katherine smiled, arching her back a little into Damon.

Elena immediately froze at the remembrance of their now shared memory. No, certainly not the same Stefan Elena had grown to love in the past years.

Rebekah tittered with laughter and added, "Or the Stefan who fucked me against the wall and made me swallow every-last-drop-of-him…"

"That's enough," Damon interjected, snatching the bottle of champagne from the side of the limo, "nobody wants to hear this shit."

Klaus swooped in, clasping his hands together, "I think the point here, Elena, is that there is a lot you haven't yet experienced in that department. It's something that takes precedence in a Vampire's life. You see, we can't procreate, we have no time limit hanging over our heads, and we can compel ourselves any damn life we desire. Human ventures such as settling down, children, careers, the whole package…that's nothing now. We eat, fuck, love and don't leave a corner of the world unturned. Then the boredom sets in. Eating, fucking and love..well that turns into a game. A twisted little game."

Tatia finally spoke up, "What I'm interested in knowing is Stefan's point of view. Out of curiosity Stefan, you have bedded both Katherine and Elena…biologically identical. Were there similarities in the way they made love? Taste the same, smell the same? Feel the same?"

Elena jerked her attention towards Tatia, surprise written on her face. It was a cruel question and it hit Elena where it hurt. She had to remember that this was what Tatia planned and it was the best way for them all to learn how each of them responds and reacts in these tense situations. Klaus was sure to put them in some serious conflict before being comfortable with resuming the ritual.

It dawned on Elena that even more than that, Tatia was asking a very important question. Who's to say Klaus wouldn't test her sexually. Would he know a difference in taste or a difference in the way they felt? Elena's skin crawled at the thought of his hands on her body.

Klaus nodded eagerly, a wide sneer marring his charming features, "Ah, there's a question worth asking."

Stefan's eyes flickered to meet Elena's, his jaw tensing. Elena held his gaze. This was something she secretly wondered while lying nude next to his sleeping body. She'd prop up on her elbow and watch him sleep, mind drifting to a time that instead of her it would be Katherine laying in post coital bliss…sated and moist with mingled sweat. Their bodies a perfect copy of one another, how different could it really be for him?

He broke his regard while answering, opting to stare past her towards the dancing lights on the darkened limo's ceiling, "first time we made love I regret to say it was hard to look past the similarities. Their bodies are identical down to the same moles. The taste…"he swallowed hard, glancing again at Elena and held her gaze "was identical. The similarities ended there though. She moved differently, sounded differently."

Elena inwardly groaned. She could just imagine now; Tatia giving her lessons on how to have sex in the same way as her. Maybe it was the mixture of drugs but the thought of sex lessons from her identical gazillion year old ancestor made a bubble of laughter rise in her chest. She clamped her lips closed but it didn't stop the snort of laughter that erupted from her mouth. She clamped a hand over her lips but she just couldn't stop.

Katherine stared at her incredulously, shaking her head slowly.

"Ok…I think it's time to lay off the crazy grass," Damon muttered, thrusting a bottle of water in Elena's hand.

"I'm so sorry," she finally gasped, tears running her mascara.

The limo suddenly stopped and they each spilled out of the doors, Elena grasped onto Elijah's arm as she felt the ground tilt beneath her feet.

"Composure, Elena," he managed to say quietly enough for only her to hear.

Once they were seated in the VIP section of a ritzy club that mimicked that of the one Elijah had taken her to not so long ago, Elena excused herself to the restroom. She had gained her legs back even though she still felt floaty and euphoric in her chest.

There was a large mirror that she shuffled over to so that she could do some damage control with her make up. Her hair was twisted into a bun just as Tatia and Katherine had decided to sport tonight.

"Switch dresses with me," commanded Katherine, who appeared behind her.

"Why? Did Tatia send you in here?" Elena asked, jumping a little at her doppelganger's sudden appearance in the mirror.

"No, I went to order a drink at the bar and snuck off. Come on there isn't much time," Katherine hissed, shoving her into the handicap stall.

"Ow, what are you up to?" Elena asked, rubbing her arm where Katherine would have left a bruise if not for her current vampire state.

"It's just as important that we learn to fool Tatia," Katherine explained in a voice that suggested Elena was as intellectually advanced as a Kindergartner.

Elena clamped her mouth shut at that. She understood her meaning behind it and felt her tongue tie up as the compulsion kept the secret at bay. She quickly shed her dress as Katherine stepped out of her own.

"Undergarments too," Katherine said.

"But you aren't wearing any…" Elena muttered

Katherine rolled her eyes and said in the same dubious tone, "yeah, and now neither will you. To the T, Elena. Can you pull this off? Tell me now if you think you can't."

Elena peeled her panties off in response and flung them at Katherine. She exited the stall first after she had stuffed her breasts in the chest crushing crimson mini dress. Katherine ushered her to the mirror where she smudged more eye shadow from her clutch in Elena's creases and suddenly pressed her lips to Elena's.

Elena gasped and wrinkled her nose as Katherine proceeded to clasp her lips in her own and then break away with an urgent voice, "now you're wearing my lipstick and you know how I kiss…just in case…"

"You do remember I witnessed all of your memories. I have a pretty good idea of how you kiss," Elena muttered, examining her lips in the mirror.

Katherine shrugged and smiled smugly, "well maybe I needed to know how _you_ kiss…you know…just in case."

Xxxx

Damon took this opportunity of having a moment alone with Rebekah to hiss in her ear, "What exactly are you doing here Bex. You trying to get your paws on this cure?"

Rebekah let out a titter of laughter and turned her hooded blue eyes to his calculating glare. He would poke around until he could figure out if she had any idea about this secret and Elijah's role in it. She glanced around her, probably to check for her brothers that disappeared behind Tatia towards the bar. Stefan had stepped outside to call Bonnie in an attempt to figure out what the strange words were Elena had spoken when Elijah commanded her to.

"To be honest Damon, I have my doubts that this cure is even real. My mother never spoke of such a thing like Tatia is claiming. She would have told me," Rebekah insisted.

Damon pondered this for a moment before asking, "Then why waste your time, we've got a full house as it is."

She smiled slowly and responded, "I thought it would be fun to watch all three of them die. This won't end well. Especially if Tatia is involved. Never much liked the bitch."

Damon watched the full lipped original take a longer than necessary sip from her wine glass. So sister original didn't trust Tatia and seemingly had no clue what was going down on Tatia and Elijah's end. He weighed his options. He could tell Rebekah of Tatia's death wish and maybe gain more insight into what may be going on, or he could keep her in the dark like Elijah and Tatia instructed. They obviously didn't want her running to Klaus with this tidbit of information and for good reason.

He dipped his toe in the water a little and asked, "But you are aware that the cure would only work on them right? You get that one of them has to die and one of them will live the rest of their life as a human, the other as vampire?"

She let out a puff of laughter through her nose and replied, "Rubbish. There would be no reason for my mother to create such a cure if it only worked on Tatia and her doppelgangers. The only thing she'd ever create for Tatia would be a death serum. She despised her!"

Damon dug a little further because he felt that nagging in the pit of his stomach that usually got him into trouble. "So why did she turn Tatia then? Why not just kill her?"

Rebekah sighed heavily, obviously growing bored with the topic yet she replied anyway, "Tatia believes it was a form of punishment…damning her soul and all…blah blah blah. "

Damon took a sip of her wine, plucking it from her neatly painted fingers, "Oh yeah? And what do you believe?"

Her eyes flitted to his lips that he purposefully darted the tip of his tongue out to sweep the stray droplets of merlot from. She looked back into his eyes and said in a very hushed tone, "I believe Tatia is very self-serving, much like Katarina. She has both my brothers wrapped around her finger and she will get what she wants. In truth, I'm here to make sure my brothers don't do something stupid."

Damon nodded slowly, rolling around another question in his mind. He blurted it out just before Stefan walked into earshot, "How do you suppose your mother knew about the doppelgangers if it was just a twist of nature…a backfire to the spell that created vampirism? In order for this cure ritual to work, there needs to be the three of them. She hadn't known that when the cure was made."

Rebekah shrugged and said, "Like I said, I don't believe there is a cure. Tatia is using my brothers to get something she wants. She's probably been trolling around Katarina and Elena for years just waiting to pounce on their weaknesses. It's who she is Damon."

Stefan sat next to Damon, sighing heavily and tucking his phone back into his blazer pocket. He tossed Damon a look of defeat and offered a shrug. Witchy must not have been much help with the translation.

Damon took a stab in the dark and peered at Rebekah for a moment before stating the foreign words to her. She looked surprised and looked around her frantically before leaning her face inches from his and hissed, "who told you to say that?"

Damon smirked, "so you know what it means?"

She clamped her mouth shut for a moment before answering, "it's a spell of my mother's. It's something only us originals can use when compelling somebody. It's to make sure another one of us can't compel over us. It's also a way to strengthen our hold on somebody. It's especially important when you're keeping someone from telling someone else a secret."

Damon nodded slowly, it made sense. Elijah wanted to make sure his brother couldn't compel certain things out of Elena and Katherine. Dangerous too, Klaus could easily find out that there was something Elijah wanted hidden from him. He started to get a creeping feeling that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to bring this to Rebekah's attention.

xxxx


	15. Chapter 15

Xxxx

Elena waited a few beats for Katherine to exit the restroom before strolling towards the bar. It was easier than Elena expected to fall into character. A little sway to her hips as she crisscrossed her feet in seductive steps towards the bar, and she was turning heads like only Katherine could.

She was supposed to bump into Klaus and Tatia so she could keep them out of Katherine's hair as she worked some sort of magic on Elijah.

"Katarina, you must dance!" Tatia called from the dance floor. Her cheeks were flushed and eyes sparkling as she moved her back rhythmically against Klaus's chest.

Elena had to remind herself to respond as Katherine and not as herself. She couldn't politely decline; she'd have to be clever about this. She held up a finger to hold her off for a moment, and turned her attention towards the bartender who had just caught on that there were _two_ of them.

"That your sister?" he asked in a gravelly voice that didn't match his boyish face.

Elena forced herself to roll her eyes rudely and snap, "Obviously. Now what does a girl have to do to get a drink around here?"

He blanched a little at such harsh tones from such a pretty face and Elena almost apologized. She didn't have to though, Damon's voice suddenly interrupted her inner turmoil, "Sorry about her. She's the ugly twin and hates to be reminded."

The bartender let out a nervous and uncertain chuckle before sliding a shot of something clear towards Elena. "On the house sweetie," he muttered.

She eyed it a little, wrinkling her nose in disgust, "you don't suppose he spit in it do you?"

Damon smirked and replied, "You've swallowed worse."

Elena almost dropped her jaw in shock that he'd speak to her that way, but quickly recovered and once again reminded herself that she was Katherine right now, not Elena.

She smiled, what she hoped was a supercilious smile, and shot back, "I've been wondering if you'd taste any better as a vampire…"

Of course she knew from the memories that he tasted just fine as a human. As fine as _that_ stuff could taste. He was about to say something when his eye caught something behind her. She watched him for a moment before deciding to sneak a peek behind her. _Great._

Katherine was avoiding various men as she weeded through the crowd to catch up to Elijah on the opposite end of the bar. Elena felt a panic in her chest. If anyone could tell that someone wasn't Elena, it was Damon. Elena had to distract him. She racked her brain for a way to peel his eyes away from Katherine.

"I'm hungry," she stated firmly, willing his eyes to meet his.

"Ok?" he said, flitting his eyes back over her shoulder towards Katherine who had made it to Elijah's side.

"It's been a while Damon. Come feed with me," she tried to drop her voice to that seductive husky tone that sounded both bored and wanton at the same time. Unfortunately it came out far from that and she sounded strangled and nervous. Damon was so preoccupied that he didn't seem to notice.

"What is she trying to pull?" he asked more himself than her.

Elena glanced back at them, watching Katherine tug at her earlobe a little as she talked softly to Elijah. Elijah seemed to be deeply engaged with whatever words were coming out of her mouth. Elena idly wondered if she tugged her earlobe like that. Just then she caught herself doing it as her mind flowed deep in thought and quickly jerked her hand away.

The sudden movement caused Damon to direct his attention curiously back at her. He stared into her eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time. Elena felt her heart pick up a moment as she fell into his gaze. She quickly reminded herself to get into character and snapped, "_What_?! She isn't going anywhere. She's probably asking him to compel her a fucking personality."

The words felt strange falling from her tongue but she knew they were the right disputes when his eyes grew from thoughtful to disdainful.

"Fine princess cunt face, you pick," he challenged her.

Somehow Elena still felt like he wasn't a hundred percent on board with her identity but she figured it was the paranoia of her first "switch". Probably had a touch to do with the fact drugs swirled around in her veins still.

Elena peered out into the crowd, scouring her memories she obtained from Katherine. Who would she choose? She remembered a memory of Damon watching Katherine feed on a girl she brought into his bedroom one night. She was very young and even more notable, on her period. Katherine had first taken sips from her wrists and then asked Damon to undress the girl. She had then proceeded to drink from between the girl's thighs, draining her of the monthly discarded blood.

Elena immediately decided against choosing a girl and pointed at a man who was engaged with a game on his phone. Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head no. He pointed at a woman dancing near Tatia and Klaus. She was dancing alone and obviously a touch inebriated. Elena remembered Damon warning her against feeding on those who had too much of anything in their system. The high of the blood mixed with anything else had a huge effect on those new to feeding. Elena stiffened. He was testing her. She knew it.

She couldn't say no, he'd know. She'd have to just drink a little. Let him think she'd taken in a lot.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, raising an eyebrow impossibly high.

She racked her brain quickly for a memory of Katherine feeding so she'd have something to go on. She conjured up an image of Katherine seducing and her enjoyment in watching Damon watch her take the first bite.

Elena stalked up to the woman, ignoring Tatia and Klaus's eyes on her. She had enough to worry about. Elena offered the woman her best version of Katherine's sultry smile before falling into beat to the song that vibrated off the floor and up her legs. The woman immediately responded with a huge smile and moved closer to Elena, tossing a head full of blonde curls back.

She snuck a look at Damon, who hung back with his arms crossed and gaze calculating. Yeah, he was feeling her out. She'd have to up the game.

She suddenly pressed her lips to the woman's in the same way Katherine had pressed into hers inside the bathroom just moments ago. The woman gasped and her hands crept up Elena's arms and just as they tried to cup her cheeks, Elena grasped her wrists painfully. The woman moaned against her lips in discomfort and jerked back to look into her eyes with surprise. Elena took the moment to compel her into silence and compliance.

Damon stepped closer then, as if trying to shield what she was about to do. She turned the woman around to lean against her chest just as she'd seen Katherine do a million times when she shared a feed with another vampire in her memories. She peered into Damon's eyes and almost fell out of character when she saw the look of need falter on his face. She remembered Katherine taught him to feed when he was just a human. She was touching on something he kept buried and she regretted that.

That brief moment of pause in Elena was enough for Damon to pause too and stare into her eyes once again with question. Katherine wouldn't have paused.

Elena kept her eyes on his as hard as it was, and bit down deeply into the woman's neck. Deeper than she usually did anyone because she knew it hurt this way. She didn't want to hurt the woman but she had to do this right. She'd already faltered one too many times.

She found that it was necessary to draw in gulps of blood with such a deep bite to keep the blood from pooling too quickly in her mouth. She felt a sudden moment of panic at the unfamiliar territory but luckily her instinct kicked in and the memories guided her. The familiar rush hit her full bodied and she found herself getting lost in it all. The music pulsing, Damon's eyes piercing, and the alcohol mingling with narcotics and marijuana in her veins; Elena felt _alive_.

She stopped feeding only because the room began to feel too real for a moment. The sounds and colors rushed up her body as an amazing song sucked up the air around her.

"What is this _song_?!" she asked nobody in particular.

Damon stepped forward and bit his wrist. While he shoved his blood into the woman's mouth so that her neck wound would heal, he took her wrist into his mouth and bit down. Elena watched him feed as she swayed to the music. She put her arms lazily above her head to the beat and closed her eyes, licking the blood from her lips. When she opened her eyes again and ran her hands down the curves of her body to the tone of the music, she noted Damon and gotten rid of the woman and was standing still in the middle of the pulsing bodies around them.

He looked more beautiful in that moment than he ever had in all the time she'd known him and even in all the borrowed memories of Katherine's. So still and thoughtful with his head tilted just so and his lips stained red. Such a stark contrast to his pale skin that was damp with sweat from the heat that comes after a good feed. She held his eyes and moved to the music, easily falling into the Katherine character of her new memories. She knew that Katherine would push it as far as she could just so she could toy with him. So Elena did too.

She held a finger out and beckoned him to move closer. He broke their gaze for a moment to stare unfocused towards the ceiling as if gathering some sort of control. She wasn't sure what the battle was inside of his head, but one side won and he took the steps to fall into motion just inches from her body. She breathed him in, not bothering to hide the fact that she was taking in his scent or studying the lines of his sharp jaw. She'd always loved his jaw line…something she and Katherine had in common she found through memories.

The seductive song ended and she offered a half smile before turning to head back to the bar. She was feeling the effects of the various substances swimming around inside of her and needed to sit down.

She stopped short when a familiar song blasted the dance floor and the crowd moved once again. Elena snapped her eyes towards Damon's before realizing her mistake. It was the song that echoed in the bathroom as his fingers trailed the insides of her thighs. AWOLNATION's _Sail_ gave her away in that one moment that she faltered.

"That's what I thought," Damon's voice carried between pulses of the song.

She blinked away then, a swirl of emotions surely written all over her face. How could she be so stupid. She shouldn't have fed on that woman and she shouldn't have taken it as far as she did with Damon. It was cruel on her part to fall into that particular Katherine role of seductress with _him_ of all people. She just didn't know any other way to pull it off.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before stumbling back a little over Katherine's impossibly high heels.

He was at her side in a flash, his fingertips digging into her elbow painfully as he steadied her and all but dragged her back to their table.

"Katherine never apologizes and she never puts herself in a vulnerable position. Drinking that much blood in a club where that woman could have had anything in her system…she wouldn't do that. Not under these circumstances," Damon said evenly, keeping his eyes anywhere but on her.

Elena yanked her arm away when they reached the table, trying to appear Katherine-like when she spotted Katherine and Elijah seated with Stefan and Rebekah. Katherine raised an eyebrow at Elena for a split second before stating in a quiet voice, "I'm going to go to the restroom. Excuse me."

"You reek of that guy you just sucked off in the alley. Do us all a favor and excuse yourself as well," Damon sneered at Elena.

She clenched her jaw for a moment, wanting to slap him and hug him all at once. At least he gave her an out to get the hell out of this dress and persona. She opted for a passive aggressive Katherine move and she just rolled her eyes and as seductively as possible, slid out of her chair and made her way to the restroom.

Once she was inside she stumbled to the sinks and grasped the cold granite counter tops before peering up at her reflection. She didn't look at all like Katherine in that moment.

"I need more time," Katherine called from behind her.

Elena's eyes focused on hers in the mirror and she shook her head no, "Damon knows, he figured it out."

Katherine waved her hand carelessly, "doesn't matter. What matters is that Elijah believes I'm you and Tatia and Klaus stay wrapped up in each other tonight."

Elena shook her head again, "I can't. Not unless you tell me what you're doing. He'll be pressing me for information all night. He'll give us away, you know he will. He doesn't mean to but he gets careless when he's frustrated."

Katherine stalked up to the mirror, eyes never leaving Elena's. She looked determined and on the edge of dangerous when she seethed, "if you want to _die_ Elena, then we can switch back so that your little boyfriend doesn't get his feelings hurt. Otherwise, leave the big girl stuff to me. We are _this_ close to getting our way out. And the less you know, the better. Trust me."

Elena closed her eyes for a moment, summoning the strength she knew lay beneath all these heightened emotions. When she opened them again, Katherine was already gone.

Xxxx

**A/N: Don't be shy; drop me a review or PM if you'd rather and THANK you for those that have already given me a nod by either following, favoriting or reviewing. Makes my day and it makes the ideas and writing come out a little easier when I know I'm reaching at least a handful of people. **


	16. Chapter 16

Xxxx

Elijah felt Tatia's hand slide under his and give a small squeeze even as she kept all eyes and words towards his brother. The limo was thick with the scent of sweat, blood, alcohol and a hint of arousal. It was still preferable to the smell of vomit long left in the old carpet of the club.

He was still tossing around the idea of letting Katherine get away with this switch she pulled with Elena. She'd pled her case for herself in a rendition of Elena's sweetest voice and even expertly poked around for more information on what form the cure was in.

He threw her a few bones of course. He needed her in the next few nights to do what she always did best. Survive.

Xxxxx

Elena remained silent as they each retired to their separate rooms. She strolled towards Katherine's, wondering when exactly she'd be able to switch back as their charmed daylight jewelry only worked on the other.

She stopped short just as Stefan and Damon started to pass her to get to Damon's room. She snuck a peek at Damon but he looked straight past her. Stefan was oblivious to the switch and offered no more than a quick glance her way. She wondered idly what Katherine must feel at Stefan's lack of emotions towards her. Elena understood through Katherine's memories that despite her harsh words and actions, she really did have a deep form of love for Stefan. Elena couldn't quite connect with it because she'd never experienced the same kind of love, but she felt that it was there and it was real.

"Goodnight," she called out of habit, wincing when neither returned the sentiment

Xxxx

Damon's eyes were already closed before Stefan sunk into the mattress on the far end of his bed. He heard him toss and turn a few times before Damon spoke softly into the dark air, "Elena switched with Katherine tonight."

He heard Stefan hold his breath for a few beats before replying in exhale, "So it begins."

"I don't think Tatia knew about it," he added as quietly as he could.

Stefan sat up at that and the bed shook under the weight of his brother's movements. Damon snuck a peek out of one eye and noticed Stefan was sitting straight up.

"You think they're trying to pull something behind Tatia?" Stefan asked, the bewilderment apparent in his tone.

Damon sighed a little and replied, "Could be or it could simply be Katherine trying to save her own ass and she's suckered Elena into helping. Katherine was chatting it up with Elijah all night…as Elena."

"I don't like this Damon…" Stefan muttered.

"I have an idea…but you're going to like it even less," Damon admitted, sitting up to face his brother in the dark. Stefan's face looked sharper under the glow of the moon that was nearly full that night. He could make out the worry behind his brother's eyes and he knew they must mirror his own.

"I never like your ideas. Hit me," Stefan sighed.

Damon pursed his lips and replied, "We're going to do a little fishing around…ahem…Sage style."

"You don't mean…." Stefan moaned.

"Yeah, blast from the past brother. Katherine's mind will be an open book," Damon smirked even though his heart thumped painfully.

"Elena would never forgive us Damon. You know that," Stefan admonished.

"I'd rather her hate me alive than me hate myself as she dies. She can't tell us this secret and it's against her will. You in or out because I'll do it on my own no matter the repercussions," Damon stated.

He couldn't quite wrap his brain around the true repercussions of Elena finding out that he and her ex-boyfriend seduced their way into a very sated and post coital doppelganger's mind. There was a slender chance she wouldn't but he didn't bet on Katherine's allegiance once she found out she'd been played.

Stefan buried his face in his hands, rubbing roughly over his skin before his voice came out muffled and strained, "I don't think you could do it alone Damon. Not with Katherine. It'll have to be the both of us."

"We can do this Stef. It's for Elena."

Xxxxx

The time had come for Tatia to train Elena in the art of being her. Damon hung back and observed, keeping his eyes on all three women as if the moment he looked away they would pull a fast one on him.

Elena looked uncertain he detected, but very focused. Tatia ran through important memories that Klaus might touch on and even had her practice her speech and her walk. Damon's stomach was in knots at the sight of Elena flubbing up most mannerisms.

It wasn't until Elijah stepped in that Damon began to relax. He was good with her. He spoke in soft tones that were both austere and gentle and he used his body to direct her into a fluidity that Tatia had failed to realize she even presented herself.

"Look here," Elijah spoke, sticking his forefinger delicately under Elena's chin. He raised her eyes to his and he brushed the hair from her hairline as he'd been seen doing numerous times to Tatia.

Elena moved marginally away from the gesture but Elijah just shook his head slightly and threaded his fingers through her hair that lined the sides of her face. She shuddered a little and leaned into him this time. Elijah's lips turned upwards in a soft smile and he murmured, "Very good. Now you touch me."

She tentatively moved her hand to rest just below the curve of his chest muscle before peering up into his eyes and sliding her palm up his body until it wrapped around the back of his neck.

He stepped away then and Damon exhaled a breath he didn't know he had been holding to begin with.

Elijah beckoned Tatia with his finger, though his eyes were still on Elena's. "Now watch her do it," Elijah instructed.

The difference was noticeable but it was probably more due to the love between Tatia and Elijah. His fingers on her skin caused her eyes to flutter shut and her hand creeping up his chest and around his neck to bring his lips to hers was such a natural movement that it really wasn't meant for anyone else. This couldn't be done.

"Klaus will notice if you don't respond to me the way Tatia does. Be careful with how you display your comfort level with my touches Elena," Elijah stepped away from Tatia and turned his attention back on her, "now let's begin again. This time I want you to imagine that I'm someone you love very much. Someone that you want touching you in these ways."

Elena nodded and Damon noticed Katherine step closer to watch the exchange. She looked just as thrilled by this as he probably did. Elena was just so _Elena_ and Tatia was a different breed from a different time.

At first glance you'd think this time around Elena and Elijah were new lovers. She mastered the eye's fluttering and even took in a sharp breath of air when Elijah's lips brushed at her chin. At least he was being gentlemanly about it.

"How far will Klaus go to make sure we are each ourselves?" Elena asked, touching a finger to where Elijah's lips had just grazed her skin.

Elijah took a few steps back to instill the proper space between them and replied, "He likes to make people uncomfortable. It's usually just words and threats. He watches people, gauges their reactions to uncomfortable situations. He has likely already devised a plan that I will try to become privy to."

"If the situation arises where he wishes to have a moment alone with you Elena, he will look deeply into your eyes and you must remember that in that moment he is someone you love very much. He's someone you know in ways others don't and the connection there is deep and very precious to you. He may want to bed you and in that case you will need to find a way out of it. He would know in an instant that it wasn't me, I'm sure of that. We'll divert his attention as we'll all be listening nearby," Tatia instructed.

Elena nodded slowly, sneaking a glance towards Damon. He didn't like where this was going and he needed to act. Tonight.

"So we'll do a practice switch tonight Elena. You will be me and Katherine will be you. I'll take on Katherine tonight. I'd like to be close to Elijah to say goodbye," Tatia admitted.

Damon had to suppress a smile. Luck was in his favor. Katherine would be posing as Elena tonight which would make it all the more easier to access her body and then more importantly, her mind, without raising the suspicion of Elijah or the others.

Xxxxx


	17. Chapter 17

XXXXX

Damon kept his eyes on Elena-as-Tatia all night. She was doing surprisingly well. She touched Elijah and Klaus in different ways and never wavered under their attention. Katherine posed as a very good Elena, he'd hand her that. She had her down to a T and he'd be fooled had he not been aware of the switch tonight. Maybe. These women always had a way of giving themselves away at one point or another…which was exactly why he watched them each like a hawk.

Katherine jabbed his ribs but remained very Elena-esqu in her face when she muttered out of the side of her mouth, "stop looking so hard, Klaus will suspect something."

They were all seated outside in the courtyard at a long dining table Klaus had compelled over. Twinkling strands of lights draped from the old southern style trees that loomed around them. Dinner consisted of a casual ensemble of salad, roast and honey rolls. Damon noted that Katherine picked at her food and kept her eyes downcast most of the meal, something he'd expect Elena to do if something was bothering her.

"What's the matter?" he asked as if he were concerned. He had a part to play too.

She looked up at him with surprise but quickly recovered and offered a smile he'd seen Elena flash a million times. He felt himself lean closer to her, scanning her face for any hint of Katherine behind her act. It was hard to find but she rolled her eyes a little and looked away quickly.

She turned her attention on Stefan instead and they fell into an easy conversation where both were pretending to be friendly but he could see the apprehension written all over his brother's face. When his eyes met Stefan's, he pursed his lips and sent him a message with his eyes. He wanted to make sure his brother would work his magic…get Katherine to loosen up enough for him to get into her mind tonight.

Stefan gave him a small nod in the split second that Katherine's eyes were trained on Elena. Damon smiled a slow smile and settled back in his seat, resting a hand on the small of Katherine's back.

"Elena, would you like some more wine?" Damon asked sweetly, eyes on Katherine's as she stiffened a little under his touch.

"Please," she replied huskily, crossing her legs under the table to reveal the flex of her thigh.

A touch too sexy for Elena, but it was the kind of body language he was looking for for this to work. He kept his eyes locked on hers as he poured her another glass. Stefan subtly reached for the bottle just as Damon set it down and knocked it into Katherine's lap.

She yelped as the dark red liquid saturated the front of her blouse and she stood quickly, her own wine glass sloshing to the side to mar Damon's impeccable designer shirt and pants.

"Sorry 'Lena," Stefan immediately apologized.

Katherine recovered and mumbled a few words and excused herself to go change. Damon and his very clever brother, followed closely behind.

Xxxxx

The mist of the very hot shower carried the scent of wine and vanilla wash as Damon toed open the door to his bathroom. Stefan was looking visibly tense and Damon started to worry that he'd have to fly this thing solo. Luckily, Stefan took a deep breath and fell into a character that he knew was hard on him.

"Hey Katherine, mind if I clean up a bit while you're showering?" Damon called softly over the splatters of water.

Silence met his request so Stefan cleared his throat and asked, "want me to bring some drinks up? Seems that you'll be holed up with us for a while. Might as well make it somewhat bearable."

After another pause of silence her voice came out dull and almost sharp with irritation, "I'm almost finished here Damon and yes Stefan, something strong please."

Damon smiled at Stefan in triumph and began shedding his clothes. He looked up and noted Stefan gaping at him and couldn't help but roll his eyes. What did he think they were here to do, talk her to death?

Stefan clenched his jaw and spun on his heel to go retrieve a bottle or two of something as Damon padded across the tile to enter the hot shower.

Katherine turned with her eyes closed, the water washing the suds out of her hair when she must have sensed him because her eyes popped open and a scream almost escaped her parted lips. Damon covered her mouth quickly with one hand and brought his finger up to his own mouth, "_shhhh_".

When he released her mouth she stood there gaping at him, anger flaring behind cocoa eyes. He reached for the soap and began lathering across his chest, smirking at her expression.

"What is it you think you're doing?" she spat, visibly taken off guard.

"I know you Katherine and you take entirely too long in the shower. I need to get this sticky mess off of my skin. You know I _hate_ to feel dirty," he replied, letting his eyes drop to her lips.

She tried to move past him but he stopped her with a step to the side and her nose bumped into his sudsy chest. She looked up at him and he smiled as he thumbed the suds from the tip of her nose off. He softened his eyes and let his tone take on that of seriousness, "Look, I just needed to talk to you really quick before Stefan gets back. Can't chance him hearing me be all _brotherly_ when I tell you this."

She crossed her arms over her chest in a small attempt to shield herself.

He smiled and continued, "As fucked up as our paths have been, you meant something to both of us at one time. Our number one goal is to protect Elena, but I can't say that we're thrilled that you're doomed to death and all if this switch-a-roo plan goes south."

She cocked her head in question, eyes narrowing, "_And_?"

"Tatia said it best, she's taking tonight to say her goodbye's to Elijah. We'll take ours later with Elena but for now…well we're given a chance to say goodbye to you as well. It's been a hell of a ride Kitty-cat and I just want you to play nice with Stefan. You know how he gets…all mopey when people die. It's a character flaw I think we can agree…but you know…let him tell you goodbye," Damon moved to the side to let her pass.

Damon didn't bother watching her walk nude towards the towel rack, he was already feeling knots in his stomach that he was actually going to do this to Elena. He had to keep reminding himself that this was _for_ Elena. He's done worse things in the name of love.

Xxxx

Katherine sat perched on the edge of the bed, hogging an entire bottle of whiskey between her thighs. Her feet tapped almost nervously as she busied herself with brushing out her hair in between long gulps of the amber liquid.

Stefan led the conversations for the most part, asking her if she remembered this or that and making her smile a few times. Damon kept his distance, gauging her body language and the amount of alcohol that was loosening her body and, more importantly, her mind.

They kept the topic of Elena out of the conversations, she was tight lipped on her involvement in this plan and any mention of this big secret and he knew Katherine would clamp up and he'd never get in. He watched her body move inside the white fitted pajama top as she tore through the tangles in her hair. The alcohol was surely affecting her by now, her eyes looked calmer and laughter fell from her lips with ease as Stefan continued to escort her down memory lane. He watched Stefan place a hand on her knee as he smiled through a sentence and watched her lean into him. Bingo.

Damon plopped onto the bed behind them and pulled Katherine back so that her head landed on his abdomen. Stefan had the bottle at his lips and took a small sip as his eyes connected with Damon's. Show time.

Katherine tried to sit up, her legs still dangling off the side of the bed but Damon managed to coax her into settling on him by running his fingertips along her hairline and into the thick wet strands to tickle at her scalp. She stilled from his touch and her eyes fluttered closed after a while and her body went slack after she succumbed to sleep. He watched her head move upwards and downwards with the slow breaths he sucked into his body. She looked beautiful in that moment and painfully like Elena. For a moment he allowed himself to believe she was but shook the thought away when Stefan's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Do you think that was enough? Isn't the Sage method usually a bit more intrusive than this?" Stefan whispered doubtfully.

Damon shrugged and said, "Guess the way to an open mind with Katherine isn't as dirty as we thought. Only one way to find out…"

Xxxxx

Stefan watched Damon as he slept against Katherine, his hands still in her hair. This was quite possibly one of the stranger situations his dear brother had put him in, but he was relieved it didn't go any further than this. The thought of Elena's face when she found out they seduced their way into Katherine's mind was not something he wanted to come to life.

It seemed like hours had passed when Damon's eyes finally popped open and his mouth set in a grim line. He didn't look pleased. He looked like he was going to be sick really.

"Well?" Stefan asked, his heartbeat turning into a nervous bumping against his chest.

Damon very gently moved Katherine's head off of his bare stomach and moved almost shakily towards the dresser to pull on a shirt. His head was down and his eyes were narrowed with deep thought. No, he did not look pleased at all.

"Damon, did you find it? Was it there?" Stefan asked, trying to keep the neediness out of his tone.

Damon didn't seem to notice. Once he was clothed he beckoned for Stefan to come stand near him. Stefan watched his brother glance towards Katherine sadly and say in a very quiet tone, "Yeah, I found it. It seems that Tatia isn't so noble after all."

Stefan furrowed his eyebrows and crossed her arms tightly across his chest as if to protect himself from what Damon was about to say.

"The cure isn't a cure for vampirism. It's a weapon. If they take it and the ritual is completed, the entire vampire species will die. In the ritual it has to be Tatia that takes the cure and be killed first," Damon stated, eyes still focused on Katherine.

Stefan felt his mouth go dry and he immediately asked, "I don't understand, why is Tatia doing this knowingly?"

"Tatia is a psychotic bitch. That's why. She thinks she needs to cleanse the world of what she helped make to save our souls so we can all be good with the good Lord above," Damon scoffed, running a hand through his hair.

Stefan pressed on, wishing his brother would just spit it all out at once, "so Katherine learned of Tatia's plan and came to Elijah with it. He compelled her to keep the secret and then did the same to Elena so that Tatia thought she could continue on with her plan?"

Damon nodded and replied, "Apparently Esther wanted a kill switch for this little project of hers. She wanted to be able to undo what was done if need be. Being a witch, she must have known nature had a way around what she had done."

Stefan looked towards Katherine and asked, "So Katherine has been trying to convince Elijah of something. Has she found a way around any of it? Is she going to get her hands on the cure? Is Elijah going to let this happen?!"

Damon bit his lip and replied gruffly, "I don't know."

Stefan glanced at him in surprise, "How do you not know, you were just in her head."

"I don't know because that's not Katherine."

Xxxx


	18. Chapter 18

Xxxx

Elijah was alone at the table as the dinner dishes were being cleaned up by the compelled help. He looked thoughtful with his hand placed just so over his chin and Katherine almost lost her nerve as she approached him.

"You did well tonight Elena," Elijah spoke softly, keeping his eyes unfocused towards the glittering trees.

Katherine willed her heart to beat slower as she fell into character. She had to do this.

"I don't have long, Klaus is expecting me to come to bed with him any minute. I just wanted to see if you've considered what I talked to you about in the club," Katherine stated, throwing all the Elena-ness she could muster into her words.

Elijah met her gaze then and it caused her to flinch ever so lightly. He had such a way about him that reminded you of how aged and powerful he really was. It didn't help that she knew he essentially held her life in his hand. If she screwed this up he would kill her. She knew it.

"I've thought a lot about what you've asked. I'm not surprised you have found compassion in your heart for Katarina, despite the damage she has inflicted towards you and towards those you care for. But I remain firm in my decision to have her take Tatia's place as the one who will be killed. If Tatia dies, we all die. And surely you aren't asking for your own life to be taken?" Elijah stared deeply into her eyes and she had to calm the roar of emotions inside of her chest.

"My plan could work Elijah. Please. I could simply switch the cure with something else. I just need to know where it is. Nobody has to die," Katherine pleaded, worrying less and less about if she was falling out of character.

Elijah stood slowly, downing the last of his glass, "If I knew where it was, don't you think I would have already made such a switch myself?"

Katherine let her head drop in defeat. Maybe she should have let Elena pretend to be Tatia tonight instead of switching with her last minute. At least she would have flubbed and Klaus would just go ahead and kill them all now. What use was all of this. If it weren't for the Goddamn compulsion she'd be half across the world by now, layers deep into a hidden life.

Elijah stuck his finger under her chin and lightly lifted her gaze to his as he murmured, "This is the only way Elena. Katherine has always been a survivor. She's always taken out anyone in her path and now she's going to meet her end. I'm not surprised she's made you feel something for her, she's good at that. Don't let her fool you and just be grateful that she's the one that's compelled to stand in Tatia's place when the ritual will be performed. You will go on to live a long life with your Salvatores."

"And who will you live your long life with? Tatia will hate you when she realizes what you've done," Katherine seethed.

He cocked his head and she was sure he knew she wasn't Elena in that moment of anger. He surprised her when he pulled her into a hug, his fingers tangling into her hair.

"Be sharp when you're with him tonight. He has always been so blinded by her love," Elijah whispered. When she moved to step out of his embrace, her eyes went wide when he held on tighter and whispered the words again. The same words he told her to say to Elena when she gained the memory…the same strange language she'd heard Elena repeat back to him any time he requested them of her.

She had no idea why he was speaking them again. She could only assume it had something to do with his particular compulsion over Elena. She opted to ignore and kept her eyes averted as she trudged towards the house where Klaus was waiting.

"Elena," Elijah called to her back. She froze and slowly peered over her shoulder to look through her eyelashes.

"I'll be nearby if you need me," he reminded her.

Xxxxx

Klaus was standing with his back towards her, peering out of the window, when she walked in. He turned and smiled a warm smile that churned Katherine's stomach.

"Did you tell Elijah goodnight?" Klaus asked in that slow drawl of his that made her skin crawl.

She replied in a soft lilt, "Yes, he bids you goodnight."

He walked slowly to her, one hand grasping a glass of red wine towards his lips, the other tucked under his elbow. She tried to let herself relax but as always, the bloodied images of her family filled her mind as he stared at her with those charming, yet deadly, eyes.

"You seem tense, love. I told you the witch will be here tomorrow and it will all be done. Elijah has compelled Katarina to stay put and we won't have any trouble out of the Salvatores since we are sparing their Elena," he assured her.

"Are you sure we can trust Elijah?" she asked. It was now or never.

He looked at her with surprise. She was expecting that, but she needed to place doubt in his mind.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked suspiciously, setting his glass down loudly.

She tilted her head a little to the side as she'd seen Tatia do with only Klaus, and replied in a perfect hint of an accent, "he seems off Klaus. I'm worried he still has affections for Katarina."

Klaus let out a bark of laughter that caused Katherine to flinch inwardly, "That's absurd. He's my brother and he's on our side. Katarina has no pull over him and nothing to offer him in return for the cure."

Katherine's eye's widened momentarily but recovered quickly before he noticed. Did that mean that Elijah had the cure in his possession? Or that he knew exactly where it was and he wasn't telling her?

"I just want to make sure the cure is safely out of her reach. Perhaps it would make me feel a little…less tense…" she stepped closer to him then, just as she'd watched Elena practice with Elijah, "if I knew it was out of his reach too."

Klaus studied her for a moment and she was sure she was dead. All he had to do was doubt her for a second and he could figure out in a number of ways that she wasn't Tatia. After what seemed like an eternity of her holding this goddess like expression that Tatia seemed to convey at all times, he appeared to relax.

He gestured towards the bookcase behind him and said, "Go ahead then, if you will feel better having it in your possession, then by all means."

She smiled but behind her smile a thousand obscenities ran through her head. This was a bad plan. What the fuck was she thinking. Of course he was testing her. She had no clue where the cure was or what form it was in and there was no backing out now. Either way she was dead. At least she could say she tried.

She walked forward towards the bookcase, angry tears brimming in her eyes at her defeat. She knew it would come to this. Didn't everything happen in stupid fucking poetic circles? Right back to the start she was to die at Klaus's hands. She felt his eyes burning holes in the back of her head as she stopped in front of the shelves and shelves of books.

Her eyes trailed over the titles, none of them really registering in her brain. She didn't see any sort of container or box or nick-knack that would conceal anything. There were no drawers or cabinets, and there were no books that stuck out further than any others.

But then-_Holy shit_. She spun around and offered her sweetest Tatia-smile, and asked, "and you are sure you do not mind me keeping it with me Nikklaus?"

He made a simple facial expression and nod of the head that conveyed, _go right ahead_ and peered at her with calculating eyes.

She reached out and grabbed a thick book, opening it quickly. In its cut-into pages sat a vial of red liquid that she quickly plucked out and tucked into her hand. She turned slowly to Klaus and with as much remorse as she could muster behind the immense joy she felt in that moment, she stated, "I am sorry. You are right, there is no need to be so suspicious of our dear Elijah. I am more worried of what Katarina will do for her survival. She must know this cure is her only way out."

She placed the vial firmly back into the book and slid it back onto the shelf.

Elijah's strange phrase that he habitually forced Elena to say numerous times in front of her…was written on the spine of the book. He had told her where the cure was. Whether he meant to or not was a mystery. He certainly meant to say it to Elena. Now all she had to do was figure out how to switch it out before the witch arrived tomorrow and then she would _gladly_ take Tatia's place in the ritual and enjoy the moment Klaus realizes his sweet Tatia is dead.


	19. Chapter 19

Xxxxx

Elena's eyes opened to complete darkness. It was always an odd feeling to open your eyes to nothing but it was even odder as a vampire. For a moment it's just a blackness and in an instant the vampire part of her picks up where her human senses fail her. She immediately felt her eyes sharpen and the shapes and colors of the room developed before her like an underexposed photograph.

She noted that she was in Katherine's room and that she wasn't alone. Sitting perched at the end of the bed was Damon with his eyes finding hers.

The alcohol now gone from her system, Elena had lost the ability to fall into character so easily so she opted for silence and motionlessness. She racked her brain which was difficult with the way he was looking at her.

Ah yes, there it was. The memories slammed back into her now awake mind. Stefan and Damon playing with who they thought was Katherine. She was unsure of their intentions until her brain was filled with Damon. She felt him everywhere and it was frightening in those moments he probed her thoughts as if she were conjuring them up herself. It had felt so good to be touched by him even if it were under false pretenses. The feeling of his fingers at her scalp and the heat of his body below her head…she had slipped and she had left the door wide open.

"You know…" Elena whispered.

"I'll find a way," Damon stated, his voice hard.

She knew he was talking about the memory she wasn't allowed to speak; the truth about the cure and their fate if Elijah or Katherine didn't figure something out. According to Katherine, Elijah had compelled her to switch with Tatia and she would die. The hope was that Klaus would believe the ritual failed due to a missing component and blame it on his witch.

She'd been left in the dark mostly, relying on a small hope that either Elijah would protect them or Katherine would slip her way into a means of survival and save them along with herself by default. It was such a small hope to cling to but she had no other choice.

There was nothing Damon could do and now he was going to do something rash which was the last thing she needed right now. Damon the protector was dangerous in such a delicate situation.

It flared up an irritation in her chest at the means Damon took to obtain the buried secret. Had it really been Katherine tonight, it would have played out quite differently she was sure.

"You two were willing to do what exactly to access Katherine's mind?" she asked, pouring more venom into her words than she actually felt.

Damon unflinchingly and without pause stated, "Anything."

"Was it worth it?" she asked just as promptly.

"Wasn't it?" he challenged, standing suddenly.

Elena pushed herself slowly up the headboard into a sitting position, her loose damp hair catching almost painfully between her back and the cool wood. She felt her heart start to thump as it always did when she was uncertain of what Damon's intentions were. Sometimes his words were harsh and other times he was invading her space and challenging that feeling that spread from her gut to her cheeks in mere seconds.

He stood there as still as the night just staring with those icy eyes that came across grey in the blackness of the room. Suddenly it was just a realization. Maybe it was part of her vampire senses or maybe it was that her vampire life was created by his blood and her body just _knew_ him. She knew before he even made his way up the bed on all fours to hover his lips dangerously over hers that he was going to make love to her in a way that would leave her changed. She knew before it happened that it would be nothing like the memories she shared with Katherine. She knew how he felt inside of Katherine and what it made her feel but this was hers and it was unalike in an almost inconceivable way.

What Damon made her feel without even _touching_ her was already beyond what Katherine's memories provided. Her eyes traced over his face languorously, her chest frozen in mid-breath, as his face warmed the air close to hers. All it would take was a slight movement for Elena to press her lips to his but she was frozen. It wasn't because she was afraid and it wasn't because her mind was filled with the usual list of potential consequences…it was because she didn't want to say goodbye yet. She wanted to know him in all the little ways she never had, before she knew him in this way.

He seemed to possess a patience that she was unaware he had. He didn't move away from her and he didn't move towards her. He was waiting on her. His knees pressed on either side of her legs and his hands balled into fists were propping his body above hers. His eyes were calm and stationed on hers even though her body was betraying her every thought.

His rush of breath like a hiss against her skin filled the once silent room as she thrust her lips into his. The back of her head baring down on the headboard from Damon pressing back was the next noise that occupied the room. Leaving all of his weight on his knees and left hand into the mattress, his other hand found her face. Their lips didn't move, didn't part and didn't continue as his thumb traced heavily over her eyebrow and pressed into her temple. His fingers cupped her chin and she leaned into his grasp. When his lips moved she just let them, savoring every bit of his swollen mouth against hers. She stayed motionless but not because she was afraid or regretful. It was because she wanted to replace all of the memories implanted in her brain of his lips on Katherine. She remembered them like it happened to her but this feeling…_this_ Damon…was different and she was captivated in every sense of the word.

Tortuously slow, he parted his lips against hers and pulled away so that just the tips of their lips were touching. He caused her to grasp the cashmere blanket underneath her warm palms as he moved his mouth in a slight circular motion. The feeling of their lips, wet with his saliva, brushing against one another like lovers, caused Elena to slide down the headboard slowly.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she whispered against his mouth.

"Tell me to stop," he said in a heartbreakingly beautiful tone.

"Can't" she muttered, daring to dart the tip of her tongue across the curve of his lower lip.

There was a pause in time as he seemed to savor the feel of her mouth on his and her body tugging his closer. His eyes closed briefly and he exhaled slowly, a pained expression tugging his mouth into a regretful line.

"I'm going to kill Tatia," Damon murmured, pulling his head back to peer down at her. She was now laying on her pillow and he hovered over her, still propped up, their bodies yet to touch.

She stared up at his face, taking in every sharp line of his timeless features. Thoughts of their journey together and all the little moments they'd shared through the, in all reality, short period of time together passed through her mind. It was hurting her heart to think that it came down to the prospect of dying without touching each other in these ways that pushed them together on this stolen night.

"You'll be dead the moment it happens. Katherine took my place for a reason tonight, let's hope she pulls off a miracle," Elena replied, tasting him on her lips as she spoke.

He looked sad then; defeated. It made her frightened to see the loss behind his gaze. Damon wasn't one to give up. She was torn between wanting him to pull off some sort of brilliant Damon-esqu hero stunt and keeping him safe. Time was running out though, and it was time to face their fate.

She lifted her legs up so that her knees rested on his waist and she bit her lip as he ran his hand down the side of her thigh. She felt the cold metal of his bulky daylight ring that she'd never really had a chance to examine even though she knew every detail of Stefan's.

"I want so much to tell you what I feel for you when you look at me like that, but I fear it will make what I'm about to do to you hurt much much worse," Damon said gruffly, causing her stomach to yank towards her heart.

Elena knew exactly what he meant. She wanted to apologize for all the bad and recall all the good and plan what was to come but this could very well be the only time they had together. She pushed all the guilt of Stefan away and all the regret of the journey she'd been through with Damon and lifted her trembling fingers to her shirt. She watched his eyes follow each button she plucked free and when she reached the last he took a single finger and stuck it in his mouth to wet it. She took in a sharp breath of air when he removed his finger from his mouth and ran it from the hollow of her throat to the hole of her naval, parting her shirt as he left a wet trail. She'd never had that done to her before and it wasn't present in any of Katherine's memories of him. The feeling was exquisite and uniquely him…his style.

She waited for what he intended to do next as the cool air licked at the quickly drying path down her body. She remembered how he explored every inch of Katherine's body the first time they made love. Katherine grew impatient with need and greedy with his touches and Elena had always imagined she'd react the same. Everything about him left you wanting more…but she was wrong. She didn't want him to move onto one thing from the next, she wanted to live in each of these little moments and gestures forever.

"I love the way this looks when you breathe like that…" he trailed his fingers over her rib cage that curved over her hollowed belly and she jerked under his touch. The movement caused her shirt to fully part and fall away from her breasts.

He moved a finger to hover over her left breast and tentatively traced a feather-light circle around her nipple. She arched into his touch without thought, her body taking over where her mind told her to sit still and feel and never forget.

Damon suddenly flicked his eyes to meet hers and she bit her lip at the meaning behind the change in his expression. He'd never looked at her like that before, she'd seen it only in her borrowed memories.

She blurted out before her mind could stop her, "You're so beautiful."

These were words that bounced around in her mind in so many moments she'd spent with Damon before but never had they meant enough to fall from the tongue…until now. She expected a smirk or a witty jab at her declaration…but he surprised her much like he always does. He bit his lip and his eyes grew thoughtful. She worried what expression she wore on her face. Embarrassment? Shock?

He lifted up onto his knees in silence and peeled off his shirt and tossed it behind him. Her eyes trailed over the hard lines of his body in the few seconds that he paused before his hand was cupping her face and his body was flush on top of hers.

She didn't realize it would feel like this. This was different from the sweet first times with Matt in the comfort of her own bed. This was painfully different from the intense moments between her and Stefan where she truly believed nothing would ever compare. This compared and she was still mostly clothed.

How was it that she didn't know the feeling of his skin against hers and the thumping of their hearts between them would cause her stomach to roll and roll with jolts of need and…disbelief.

"You're going to need to drain a body after all that work your heart's doing…" Damon smiled, his fingers stilling at her cheekbone.

"You offering?" she smiled back, taking herself by surprise again. This was so far from their usual dynamic that it felt both foreign and veracious all at once.

His mouth parted in momentary surprise before his face broke out into the first genuine smile that she could honestly say she'd ever seen him offer.

"Elena Gilbert…" he whispered, shaking his head ever so slightly before dipping his face down to run his lips down the bridge of her nose. He did this with all the subtle curves of her face, stopping every now and then to press a small kiss.

As his lips found her ear, she shuddered involuntarily as his tongue traced around her lobe. He pulled back then to smooth the hair from her forehead. As his eyes traced the contours of her face as if he'd never see her again, she took the moment to slide her arms from the unbuttoned silken pajama top.

"Damon?" Elena asked, her throat tight.

He hummed a response as soft as his touch at her hairline. She met his eyes and admitted with more emotion than she intended, "I'm so sorry for everything."

He shook his head immediately and rolled off of her to stare up at the ceiling. She sat up, covering her bare breasts with an arm out of some strange habit within her to conceal her body.

"You have a terrible way of taking on things that aren't yours," Damon stated, "and terrible timing…"

She had to smile at that. He was right of course, but wrong about her apology. She was sorry for the lies and for the way she was coming between brothers. She was sorry she was anything like Katherine and Tatia before her. She was even more sorry that deep down she wasn't sorry at all if it meant knowing the love of both these men in these ways. Even though Damon didn't believe it, she knew she was living out the same mistakes as Tatia and Katherine.

He looked at her when she didn't speak all the words in her head and she noticed he smiled a little at her arm over her breasts.

"I've seen those you know…" Damon smirked and added in a whisper, "like a few minutes ago…"

She smiled sheepishly and dropped her arm. She stared at the rise and fall of his chest even as he spoke softly, "it will be me asking for your forgiveness if we get out of this Elena. We do the things we do because despite the right or wrong of it, we just want to do them. Then there are sometimes we _have_ to do them when we don't want to."

Elena didn't know what he meant but he didn't give her much time to contemplate it. He was up and had her sprawled on her back by the yank of her legs. She propped up on elbows to peer down at him hooking his fingers into the sides of her silky peach panties.

"I want to taste you," he stated as simply as if he was going to the store.

"I taste the same as…" Elena trailed off as his mouth covered her and her panties sailed off to join his shirt.

In between laps at her sex, he responded, "no one. You taste the same as no one."

She fell onto her back then and loosened the grip she had with her thighs as she took in the fact that Damon's mouth was…down there. This was actually happening. His hands crept from near her buttocks to slide on her inner thighs. Her skin immediately pricked at his touch and he ran his fingertips lightly over her raised flesh before spreading her a little wider.

He was gentle with her even though a vampire didn't need much of a gentle touch. He was rougher with Katherine in her memories and had expected the same. As he slid one finger and then two inside of her, she clenched her jaw to keep from moaning. Too many vampire ears in this home.

"I just wanted to see what I was getting myself into," he smiled up at her, pulling his fingers out. The smile fell from his lips when she sat up quickly to pull him into a deep kiss. She tasted herself in his mouth, smelled her scent in each break of their lips and swirl of their tongues.

"Good god woman…" he muttered against her lips in a tone that made her want to live in this moment forever.

"This feels so…" she couldn't find the right words. She wanted to say right and wrong and everything in between.

He broke free to yank his loose bottoms from his body and this time she tossed them towards their clothes pile. His hands at her cheeks and her fingers tangling into his hair, they fell back onto the bed. She wrapped her legs around him and pressed upwards in a silent plea.

He grasped and directed himself inside of her and she gasped at the feelings it stirred deep in her gut. She felt pain as he slid in but she adjusted quickly with a few wiggles of her buttocks below him. He grunted, "hold on…hold still…" and squeezed his eyes shut.

She watched him struggle against letting go inside of her before his face relaxed and he buried his face in the crook of her neck. She peered down the lines of his back to watch the muscles flex and tense as he moved a gentle rhythm inside of her.

"You are…incredibly tight, dear girl," he said against her neck.

He was certainly thicker than Stefan or Matt and he didn't feel this way in her memories of Katherine's. Perhaps her baring a child had something to do with that.

With every move of his body atop hers, she adjusted more and more until it was nothing short of the perfect amount of pressure inside of her. She felt her mind wonder towards the emotional side of sex as it often did for her. She thought of Damon and all the times he'd made her infuriated…she thought of all the times he made her question herself. Then there were those moments that she caught that human side of him beneath all the snarky comments and tactless humor that she deep down found pretty funny.

The smell of blood hit her nostrils, causing her thoughts to jolt away.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think I was stealing your virginity Gilbert," Damon said as he pulled out of her and run his fingers along her dampness to reveal a tinge to her wetness.

She shrugged, missing the feeling of him inside of her, "It's been a while."

His fangs slid out and he licked at the pink sheen on his fingers. She froze, mesmerized. Now this was something new. She'd experienced human Damon in Katherine's memories and she'd experienced sex as a vampire with Stefan…but there was zero blood play in their short time and for good reason.

As if he noticed the look on her face, he tilted his head a little to the side. Elena felt her fangs before her mind had time to catch up with her impulses and she was pulling him inside of her again. He groaned loudly as she bared down on him and pulled his mouth to hers.

She'd never kissed with her fangs out and she'd certainly never kissed with someone else's out. It was new and it was exciting and she followed Damon's practiced lead.

"Do you understand what you're doing Elena?" Damon asked as she moved her mouth to his neck, scraping along his skin with sharp teeth.

She knew what blood sharing meant because Stefan had gone over the basics. She didn't know if it was any different since Damon's blood made her into this but she wasn't sure she cared.

He tried again as she settled her mouth against his pulse, "Elena…it will change things. I'd rather you didn't."

"Explain," she asked, having trouble controlling the urge.

He started moving inside of her again as he replied, "euphoria, a connectivity that reaches beyond what we're doing now. In a sense, we'd be very attached for a while."

"I already feel that now, just having you touch me," she admitted, gasping a little as he hit a spot within her.

"Just trust me, it's not worth the-" he was cut short when she threw caution to the wind and bit into his neck. The taste was perfect; thick with adrenalin and…it tasted of home.

"God_dammit_ woman, do you never listen," he hissed, burying himself deeper in her and picking up his pace.

She barely heard him though, her body was _alive_. It was alive because of him in the simplest of terms. His blood as he made love to her hard and thick, caused her vision to expand and that feeling that he always caused her in her gut…it was almost unbearable. She supposed it was what he dubbed as the euphoria, but it was far more than that to her.

It built and it built and she was seeing colors in the dark room and as she came, screaming his name, his fangs were in her throat. The pull of her blood from her body into his mouth as she squeezed around and around him…it was irreplaceable.

He spilled inside of her shortly after, hissing curses against the blood on her neck and she heard herself laughing.

xxxxx


	20. Chapter 20

As soon as he saw Katarina rush out of Klaus's room that night, Elijah slid inside the dim room that reeked of her nervousness.

"Brother…" Klaus greeted him from the bed.

"We have a problem," Elijah stated, walking straight to the book to check for the vial. When he was satisfied it was the correct vial, he snapped the book shut and held it in the air. "The girls are planning something. I feel if we want this to go as planned, we must act now and without their knowledge."

Klaus slid out of bed, completely nude. Elijah wondered momentarily if Katarina had managed to dodge that bullet. The air didn't smell of sex, she must have weaseled her way out of the room.

"Tatia would not let them destroy our plan. I do agree that things don't seem quite right. I am one step ahead of you though. My witch is just a call away. We can do this now," Klaus smiled, a challenge in his eyes.

Elijah smiled and nodded, "yes, let us get this over with, shall we. I'll fetch the girls and you prepare the cure."

Klaus cocked his head and stretched languorously before snatching the book out of Elijah's hand.

"I am no fool Elijah, the moment I sense something isn't right, you'll be the first I stake," Klaus said evenly.

Elijah nodded slowly and smiled in kind.

Xxxxx

Katherine burst into her room in a flurry, throwing clothes at Damon and Elena. Damon noted she looked crazed…more than her usual level of crazed.

"We need to switch, _now_ Elena. Tatia is heading back to Klaus as we speak," she hissed, tearing her own clothes and letting her hair out of the loose bun.

Damon remained motionless as he watched Elena scramble out of the bed and pull on her discarded pajamas.

"What happened?" Elena asked, her eyes wide.

"Jesus _Christ_ you two…" Katherine muttered when she noticed the blood smeared at their chins and spattered on her sheets. She stalked over to the closet to yank a robe from the hanger and wrap it around her nude body.

The door flung open once again, causing them all to jump. Elijah stood motionless, his mouth slightly agape at the scene before him. Damon held in a groan. This was just getting to be ridiculously bad luck.

Elijah blinked a few times at the blood on Elena's mouth and then turned slowly to survey the mess of a bed Damon was still sprawled in. He closed his eyes briefly and inhaled a deep breath. In his exhale he turned to Elena and said, "Katarina, I need you to come with me. Now."

Katherine froze and looked quickly at Elena who seemed to be swaying from the blood high. Elena opened her mouth to say something but then clamped it shut and ducked her head, following Elijah from the room.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Damon leapt from the bed and grabbed Katherine roughly by the shoulders. "What the hell is going on?"

She shook her head vigorously and replied, "I found the cure. I need a vial…old… and I need your blood."

Xxxxx

Damon saw Stefan's face first as he entered the room and his heart sank. He looked devastated. More than that, he looked terrified. Damon quickly followed his eyes to the worst sight he'd ever seen. Elena was bound to a chair with vervain laced chains and she was shuddering with silent sobs.

He immediately stepped forward but Katherine yanked him back and muttered under her breath, "_Don't _move."

Klaus entered the room with Elijah and an elderly woman with dark skin and narrow eyes. The only person missing was Tatia.

"I decided to prepare a little surprise for my Tatia. We'll perform the ritual without her," Klaus smiled, beckoning for the book in Elijah's hands. Damon felt Katherine stiffen beside him as Klaus plucked the vial from it's hiding place and hold it up for inspection.

"I suppose Elijah was right in assuming you girls were up to something. Tsk tsk," Klaus tittered, tossing the vial into the fire behind him.

Damon's heart sank and his eyes connected with Elena's. God she looked petrified. With every shake of her body, the chains hissed into her burning flesh and he felt the pain on his own.

Klaus knelt down in front of Elena and spoke in soothing tones. If it weren't for common knowledge that Klaus was a murderous monster with layers of psychosis…it would appear that he was being genuinely kind.

"Sweetheart, where is the cure? I need it to kill you."

Elena shut her eyes and let out a strangled sob against the gag that sizzled against her already blood stained mouth. Klaus pat her on the head as he stood and turned to the others with his hands in the air, "Just kidding kids, there was a dose in each glass of wine tonight. A naughty little girl replaced a fake with another fake. Which one are you?" Klaus asked Katherine next to Damon.

Before Katherine could answer, Tatia burst into the room, anger on her face, "What the hell is going on here?"

Damon almost sang out a cliché _dun dun dunnnn_ at the twist of events. They were all going to die, the bitch was going to stake them all when she realized that everything had gone wrong. This was it. The final act.

"Well love, it was supposed to be a surprise. But since you're here, maybe you could do the honors?" Klaus held out a stake.

Tatia folded her arms and said very calmly, "This was not the plan Nikklaus. I wanted more time and I wanted to talk with your witch."

Klaus glanced pointedly at the elderly woman and she stepped forward, saying the words Elena had uttered once before in front of Damon the day Elijah compelled the pain away. What the hell was this?

"No, I will not do this tonight," Tatia seethed, turning to exit the room.

Klaus flashed in front of her and smiled through his words, "It's already done, love. The cure runs through your system as we speak. The girl dies and we'll have a human and we will live with our hybrids forever. This is what you wanted and I'm making sure you get it…that we get it."

Tatia grabbed the stake from his hand and smiled sardonically, "Very well then."

Damon looked quickly at Elijah, gauging his reaction. Tatia was going to off herself, he knew it. Elijah had to know it too. They'd all be dead in minutes.

The witch spoke louder and the lights flickered in the room, the windows flew open and a gust whipped loudly around them all. Katherine grabbed his arm to steady herself as it became too strong. Damon tried to move towards Elena so he could be with her in these last moments but Katherine pulled him back relentlessly.

Then suddenly the wind stopped and the witch fell to her knees, "It is done, now for the sacrifice."

Tatia moved towards Elena, stake positioned stiffly at her side. Damon locked eyes with Elena. She closed her eyes and a calmness visibly washed over her. Damon felt a sense of pride as he watched her stare squarely into Tatia's eyes as she raised the stake over her.

He heard Katherine's scream of protest more than anything in the next few seconds. Klaus was in between Tatia and Elena in a flash, stake turned and buried deep into Tatia's heart. Klaus had staked Tatia and now they would all die.

As Tatia crumpled to the floor, gasping as the greyness and purple veins spread over her beautiful body, Klaus smiled up at Elijah who remained motionless.

"Thanks to Elijah, I've been made privy to quite the scheme you ladies have cooked up in your time together," Klaus announced, standing quickly from Tatia's body and sauntering towards Katherine.

She shook like a leaf against Damon's side but he barely noticed, his eyes remained on Elena's. Stefan had stood and was painfully working on releasing her from the chains, his palms sizzling under the efforts.

"It was quite a plan, but I think in time I can forgive you Tatia," Klaus continued, cupping Katherine's chin. "Here I thought you wanted to be by my side forever and start a family of sorts. In reality you wanted to be human and to die with your soul. You didn't care about my hybrids or about me. It's a shame really."

"You _fool_," Katherine spat, slapping his hand away from her face, "you've killed us all."

Klaus looked wounded for a moment and stepped back, "Elijah, what is this?"

Stefan had Elena free and held her in his arms, cradled like a baby. Damon wanted to go to her but Katherine's vice-like grip on his arm kept him planted. He winced as she squeezed harder in anger towards Klaus.

"There is much to be explained, but rest assured, nobody else has to die tonight. Please allow the witch to speak," Elijah spoke tenderly, tears staining his face.

Klaus put his hand over his mouth at the sight of his brother's tears. His muffled voice caused Elijah to flinch, "Who is that Elijah?" He motioned with an unsteady hand towards the body on the ground.

"Please brother, just listen. Please forgive me," Elijah moved to Tatia's body and knelt down to close her eyes with his fingertips.

The witch spoke weakly of Esther's true plans for the cure that was created so long ago. She had lied that night when she told Tatia it was a way to save her soul and put an end to the monsters she helped create. It was in fact, an offering to nature. An apology and a way to make things right. The cure was no weapon at all, it was a means of righting wrongs. Esther had seen the future and knew two more with Tatia's face would walk the Earth. They were the key to ending the destruction Esther's spell caused nature, in saving her family that night.

The cure would make one of the two doppelgangers able to bare children. The child's blood would be a true cure to vampirism. There was a catch. It would only work if the child gave it willingly to each vampire that sought it out. It would only be activated when the child itself grew into adulthood and was turned vampire by it's mother.

Elijah spoke softly to his brother, "So you see Nikklaus, Tatia meant to kill us all because she hated what she had become that much. I loved her too, you know I did. But I couldn't let her do that to my family. When Katarina came to me with all of Tatia's memories, I sought out the witch long before you did. I knew you wouldn't let her die, but she had to be the one. Forgive me."

Damon knew his mouth must be wide open in shock. They would survive this. Elijah pulled it off. Katherine and Elena played right into this plan of brilliance. He had to force himself to stand still or he'd kiss the man right here and now.

Klaus stumbled to Tatia's body and a painful moan escaped his lips. He pulled her lifeless body into his arms and he rocked back and forth, smoothing her hair. Suddenly he stood and flashed out of the room, leaving the rest of them in shocked silence.

Xxxx

Elena felt her strength returning to her as she lay in Stefan's arms. Her skin healed quickly from the deep indentions of the vervain laced chains and her heart steadied with the realization that she wasn't going to die and she wasn't going to lose anybody.

Something felt different though and it crept through her like a coldness. Iciness in her veins, she pushed away from Stefan and backed against the wall. She saw Damon's mouth part in question and Katherine became stiff.

"Elena and Katherine are no longer under my compellment. The ritual broke the ties that bound me with the three women. Before you act Elena, please hear me," Elijah began, moving towards her slowly.

Elena clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut as the memories slammed back into her mind. She felt Elijah's hand at her cheek and she tried to focus on his words as her chest heaved in anger and sadness.

"I hadn't anticipated the unfortunate circumstances surrounding your brother. I very much relied on the fact that you are a compassionate woman and needed that for this plan to work. You needed to work with Katarina and you needed to trust her. She took the life of your brother and I suspect she will pay dearly for that. I can only hope you can forgive me for putting you through the pain of it all over again."

He let his hand drop from her cheek as her tears wet his hand, "I also relied on the fact that Katarina would find a way to survive and in turn, keep you safe. I had to compel her to believe she would die if she couldn't switch the cure and switch with Tatia. I knew she'd plant seeds of doubt in Klaus's mind as she scrambled to do so. I needed him to believe he was being deceived in an entirely different way than he actually was being betrayed."

She was tired of his voice, she was tired of the pain in her chest. She just wanted to rip out Katherine's throat. She wanted to sob in solitude for the loss of her brother.

She flashed past Elijah and her hand was around Katherine's neck. She'd never felt the pure fury and power behind baring her fangs with intent to kill. It was exhilarating and it fueled a strength in her that was only heightened by Damon's blood coursing through her veins.

Katherine was stronger of course and after the initial shock of being grabbed by Elena, she broke Elena's wrist and had Damon with her hand plunged into his chest against the wall.

"_Back_ off Elena or he dies," Katherine muttered.

Elena stopped in her tracks, her heart pounding in her hears. Damon groaned in pain, straining against Katherine's strength.

"Tread lightly Elena, you have more than yourself to look after now," Elijah nodded towards her abdomen before turning towards the door.

xxxxx


End file.
